Hidden Memories: VR
by Usagi Squared
Summary: When a surprise visit to Hattori Heiji turns into a vacation in D.C., the least Conan can do is hope things don't go as badly as the last time he was in the States. But with Koji there? Things don't look well, and a simple event will haunt everyone...
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The Festival of the Stars**

Children ran wildly under the soft lantern lights of the sky, as fireworks cracked above. Many sang, as they wrote small messages on ornament sized slips of paper. Two children specifically stood at a stand with bamboo stalks and paper in front of the plants, one in a blue dragon decorated yukata, and the other a silvery white with tigers.

'_Sasa no ha sara-sara...'_

Scowling slightly as he stood by Kiyoiri, Koji scratched the side of his head. The same.. Damn... Yukata as last year... He'd hoped he'd have grown out of it by this point, but it seemed he hadn't. A full year since he'd come to Tokyo, and yet it seemed scarcely anything had changed. Ran would come by in the summer when she had no university classes, and Conan had, by the start of last summer, finally let go of her fully. (That didn't mean he wouldn't end up embarrassed when Ran did something that women were fine with doing in front of children, but not in front of young men though.) Still, at least things had calmed down... No assasination attempts in anycase...

'_Nokiba ni yureru...'_

"Neh neh, Koji-kun...?" Kiyoiri looked over at her friend, the boy instantly loosing the scowl. "Koji-kun, how are you doing in Kudo-ojiisan's house?" Koji simply blinked at this, before shrugging. A few days before, the small elderly man that had hired Shindou part time at his game shop passed away, leaving his only employee the very building he owned. It was rare for such an inheritance to come into play (Especially since the old man had a grandson who was equally interested in games at the time), but Shindou had accepted the offer.

'_Ohoshi-sama, kira-kira...'_

There was, however, a drawback to the new apartment/store that Shindou now owned and ran completely. There was no room for Koji to move in- So, after a _very_ long conversation with Conan (And without Koji), Shindou had convinced his cousin to allow the boy to remain in said house. Conan instantly opted to check in more often however. Kiyoiri had now turned back to the note she was writing, humming the same small song being sung by those around her.

'_Kin gin sunago.'_

"Nice yukata Hisoka."

Tch! Koji tensed, turning around to glare at a certain spectacled boy wearing a flaming red one. Great.. Just great. He'd been trying to avoid this... Spotting the phoenix on Conan's own clothes however, this quickly turned into a smirk. "At least mine isn't decorated with peacocks."

As expected.. His friend instantly bristled at the comment. "Oi! I'm not the one who picked it!"

"Then we can relate." He watched as Conan chose to ignore that, and walk over to Kiyoiri, attempting to see over her shoulder.

"Hn... You're writing a wish Kiyoiri-chan?" The two boys received a simple nod, before Conan continued. "Oi oi... This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that thing Shindou-ojii is working on... Would it?"

Kiyoiri covered the note up quickly, shaking her head. "Uh-uh! No way! If I tell you the wish it won't come true!" Ignoring Koji's light smirk and Conan's deadpan, she turned to fold it over and hang it on one of the bamboo stalks in front of her, before turning to look at her friends with a frown. "And if either of you even try unfolding it...."

Koji laughed nervously, Conan simply stepping back with slightly wide eyes. "Eh...."

Leaning over to Conan, Koji whispered, "She's been like this since school ended... Just go with it..." Simply nodding, they watched as Kiyoiri's cheery disposition returned.

"Koji-kun! Conan-kun!! Over here, there's some carving..."

The pair sighed. Urrgh... However, with Kiyoiri temporarily distracted, Conan turned to Koji to ask what he had planned to any first place. "So.. Speaking of 'Cocoon Beta'.." Really, who in their right mind donated two 'Cocoon' pods to the game shop?

"He was looking for beta-testers the other day... I just barely convinced Kiyoiri that it was a bad idea..." He rubbed his temples, while Conan simply deadpanned. "What! I don't trust that thing! ....You're the one who said it almost put you in a coma..."

The boy snorted, shaking his head. "That was because it was overrun by a rogue computer program. The cocoon's that are sitting in Shindou-ojii's shop are completely harmless! At least for the moment..." Now that he thought about it... Who knew what Shindou's tinkering had done to those things! ....What was he doing again? "Oi, Hisoka... What exactly is he trying to do anyways?"

"Hn?" The boy looked up from where he had been staring off, watching Kiyoiri speak with a pair of kids that had apparently come from over in Ekoda to the festival. "Ah... He's trying to make it possible to play games from other systems on it... He tried convincing Kiyoiri and I to test it, but when I told him about how Ran-neechan was taking us to Osaka..." He drew off while Conan blinked at how used to 'being 8' it seemed Koji was, watching as Kiyoiri beat the boy across from her at gold-fish catching before she walked back.

Holding a small bag of fish, she grinned. "Heee! I met some really nice people...." She stopped when she saw Koji giving Conan an odd look however, staring in confusion. "Ehhh... Did I miss something?"

Koji shook his head. "Nah... Just wondering what you were doing..."

"Ah! Well, you see....." He instantly regretted asking...

Walking off in the opposite direction, the two children didn't know just how much meeting that girl would affect them- For after Kiyoiri told them about the beta test needed... And just where it was...

That would be about where things started going downhill, at least from Conan's perspective.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

_**A dream...**_

_In a completely black room, two figures stand. On one side, a small boy in glasses, his back turned to the other with a face of ice. On the other side, a young man, his school uniform slightly torn, his breathing ragged as he clutches his knees. He has run far, and run hard, to catch up to this boy. He has been attacked... Wounded, as the blood that seeps through his sleeve shows. And he has many questions... Most of which will likely go unanswered._

"_Why," the man says, his voice rough and cracked from lack of use. "Why do you run from me?" _

_The boy does not turn back to him, simply speaking to the man with an appearance identical to his own. "Because you don't exist anymore. You died over a month ago."_

"_Why did you kill me?" His voice is strained, faded, as though forced across miles of ice and snow. "Why couldn't you wait, or even tell her?"_

_Still, he does not turn. The darkness shifts slightly, a pair of eyes gleaming unnoticed to the man. "Because I could not. I would not. And I will not." Would he say this in reality, if it was conceivably possible? He does not know, nor does he wish to know._

"_Then why do you abandon me even then? Why do you throw me away completely?" Would his other half speak this way, even during a case? He does not care. A set of brown eyes gleam in the darkness, a shadowy form rising from behind the man as an unknown source of light gleams across a razor sharp and toothed beak._

_The boy hesitates. Chokes on his words. And then continues. "Because I..."_

_The bird rises, and the man turns around to scream in terror as an enormous beak crashes down on his form, snapping him clean in two. The man dissipates into smoke...._

"_...Don't need you anymore."_

_A piercing screech fills the air, and the boy's vision fades..._

_**A dream.**_

_This time, he is the one who is running. His breathing is hard and labored, and he has no idea what is causing him to run at this pace. _

"_REVERSE!" He winces as this single word is repeated around him so many times, not once looking back to see who it is that says this. "REVERSE! REVERSE!" Two figures seem to impede his escape, and he shakes his head with shock as he finds himself cornered._

_Both figures have a cable running from the base of their necks down. "Reverse...." A blinding pain fills his head as the back of his neck begins to bleed... He falls forwards, blood pooling around his head, around his mouth and eyes...._

"GET. THE FUCK. OFF OF ME."

"Koji-kun!" Ran turned from her seat on the train they sat on for the trip to Osaka, glaring at the boy as he shoved a sleeping Conan off his shoulder. "What did I say about speaking that way!" Koji did not answer, still busy with the oddly heavy Conan... Who had been drooling on his shoulder, fast asleep.

He continued to push at the boy, eventually just poking his shoulder with a razor sharp claw instead.

"HITAI!" Conan jerked awake, clutching his already healed shoulder. "What the hell was that for!"

"Conan-kun!" The boy turned as Ran sent him a glare, now mimicked by Kiyoiri who sat beside her.

Blinking as he wiped the drool from his face, Conan's eyes suddenly widened as he looked down at the hand he had used to do so. ".....Eh...." Looking over at Koji while he took a napkin from the box beside him, he sweat dropped. "I didn't.... Drool on you did I?"

Koji's shoulder looked rather wet, even after the furious scrubbing that he was giving it. "Stay away from me next time we take a train."

_'Oi oi... As if it's my fault..._' A loud 'ping' noise sounded above, alerting them that they had arrived in Osaka. "Hn... We're here already?"

"Yea." Koji stood up and stretched, before putting his hands in his pockets and waiting for Conan to leave and make room for him to get into the aisle. "So... This friend of yours, what am I to him?"

To him? Ah, that's right. Conan walked out into the aisle as Kiyoiri and Ran called them over to the door, looking behind him as he whispered the answer. "Eh... You're my second cousin. Be interesting to see his reaction in any case."

There was an odd look from Koji, his eyes half-closed in a typical 'huh?' look as he ignored the second part of the statement. "Second cousin? How the hell does that work? I thought this you wasn't related to me..."

Conan shook his head, getting off the train before Koji and walking over to wait in one of the benches. "Iye. 'Edogawa Conan' is a distant relative of the Kudos. You, in the mean time, are posing as Shindou-ojii's nephew. Technically, keeping that disguise in mind, that makes you a second cousin... And since it's possible for me to be 'related' to another cousin of Shindou's, this means that the phrase still holds true." The boy nodded to himself, as if to solidify this explanation before realizing that Koji had already stopped paying attention. Come to think of it... Ran and Kiyoiri were following the boy's gaze, a confused look on their face. "Eh..."

"Conan-kun!!~ Your loving Yukiko-neesan is here!~" Neesan... She was already 40!

He probably shouldn't have turned.... But in doing so, he came face to face with his mother. And also a new 'deal'. "Conan-kun, recently yo-" She coughed, catching herself before continuing, "Yuusaku and I were thinking it would be a good idea to let you have a vacation outside of Japan! What do you think?"

"Iye." Koji, Kiyoiri, and Ran looked at Conan with an interesting look at the instant response, Yukiko simply pouting.

"Mou... Conan-kun, there's no need to be so quick to decide... Besides, a certain friend of yours from Osaka is going to be there as well~"

Conan frowned, blinking a few times. "...What."

"Isn't it great? We asked if he wanted to spend a few weeks with you and your friends this summer in D.C., and once we gave him the ticket he was more than willing!~" The group sweat dropped, with Koji and Kiyoiri looking at Yukiko oddly before Ran accepted the plan to travel with them to the states.

Looking over at Conan, Koji's eye twitched slightly. "Oi oi... Is your mom all there...?"

The response was a sigh. "It's her character.... There's no preventing it..."

"Kinda like you and dead people eh?" Koji chuckled as a glare was sent up at him. Hehehe...

Conan could almost hear Koji say 'With your luck, bodies will flock to you two like flies!', even with the silencing look he'd received from Ran before he could. Another sigh, as the ticket Ran handed him revealed that he would be leaving in a few hours from Osaka with the others. Maybe if he was lucky his parents wouldn't just leave them at a hotel...

Please let this trip be at least a _bit_ more calming than the last time he was in the states...

-------------------------------

AN - Why helloooo there! Welcome to the prologue of the sequel to 'Section F', which didn't really focus on Section F at all now did it? Someone told me I came off as a bit harsh in the note I left there... Sorry about that. If you have something to say, just say it! It could be anything. Why, it could be about how Koji should have a hair cut. (Which he won't ever get by the way. Gin/Koji with short hair would bring about the apocalypse.) In anycase, this fic is much MUCH shorter than Section F... But it will be just as good if not better in my opinion! (Especially if you help... *points to review button* Hinthintnudgenudge!) Unlike with Section F, I'll post a few other notes at the bottom of chapters when I need to give you all a notice of something- Exams are coming, and I'll be moving soon, so I don't want to leave you hanging!

One more thing before I go- I will be posting not one... Not two.. But _THREE_ fanfics stimoutaniously as I do this. At the moment, it is only two of course- The third fanfic doesn't have a prologue (Mainly because it was odd-doodle and conversation induced), so you won't see a bit of it until I post the first chapter of 'VR' and 'Oceans of Red'. In anycase... See if you can guess the crossover before I announce it! Because I won't list it as one until the crossover is revealed. (Which is next chapter. :D)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Cosplayers and Criminal Investigators**

The roar of the engine sounded through the air as the plane took off, nose slowly pointing off the ground and into the sky. People inside gradually settled into their seats for the long ride ahead of them, some plugging in headphones to listen to music, and others pulling out a book or a DSI to play on.

Sitting near the aisle, Conan had yet again supposedly fallen asleep. Koji in the meantime, had had the foresight to make sure he wasn't sitting anywhere near him, in case he really was. He didn't care about the fact that he could very well be faking to avoid a conversation with Kiyoiri and her 'plane friends'. Drool was disgusting. And it smelled.

Speaking of 'plane friends'. He looked over at the boy Kiyoiri was sitting across from, sniffing slightly before gaging. Hair dye... That also reeked... The entire plane was filled with sickness inducing scents... Standing up, he rushed over to the washroom, his face slightly green as his friend watched him through nearly closed eyes. Once Koji had left, he smirked. Hahaha... The idiot couldn't help but test the air could he?

"It would appear that even the spirit of the wind has his limits, neh, Conan-kun?"

Conan jerked upwards, looking towards the window seat passenger he had passed as a small girl his 'age'. Said girl had been unrecognizable due to the lack of straight jacket and hat, both of which had been replaced by a sleeveless white dress and simple bandages. Her hair, in the meantime, had been pulled back, making it still difficult to connect the face to a girl that he had never seen the face of to begin with. "K-Kira-chan..." The boy chocked a small bit, before being able to speak again. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I have a client who has asked me to solve an issue of hers in the D.C. area... So, with Luo Mei's permission, I asked Ran-neechan if I could come along with you."

A... Client... Conan mentally laughed nervously (If he did so out loud, the results could be... Deadly.), wondering if he should ask. "K-Kira-chan... This client of yours wouldn't happen to be-"

"Miss Todd is indeed a ghost- However, though she is not one that has not gained ascension, it would appear that events to come are serious enough to warrant my attention."

Conan chose not to tell Kira that ghosts didn't exist- Mainly because she would likely find a way to corner his deduction. And that? That was incredible honestly... But it was embarrassing too.

While Conan tried to ignore the 'stare' that Kira was now giving him, and later the conversation she seemed to hold with thin air, Kiyoiri was doing just the opposite with her new friend in the row beside them. The boy's hair had quite obviously been dyed of course- Green-blond hair wasn't natural after all. But this didn't seem to bug Kiyoiri at all.

Neither did his clothes- Which looked to be handmade with skill. A set of goggles rested on the boy's head, and beneath the seat was a three-strap bag, a metal ring holding said straps together at the front. Looking at his face however... One could tell it was the same boy that Kiyoiri had met before, at the Tanabata festival.

"Neh neh, Shiro-kun..." Her friend looked quite different from the last time she'd seen him, almost nervous really...

The boy held up a hand before Kiyoiri could continue. "Call me Mar! It's cooler!!" Kiyoiri blinked, but nodded with a grin anyways. Mar did sound cooler after all...

"Mar-kun, why did you dye your hair....?" It used to be black... His eyes were still brown though, that was good...

Shiro, or rather 'Mar' it seemed, crossed his arms with a smile. "Ah.. That. It's a part of my cosplay, you see."

"Cosplay...?"

This sent Shiro into an explanation that was almost Conan worthy. "Yea! Cosplay is when you dress up in a costume similar to a character in a game, or a comic, or an anime! Most people have to hand make them, or piece them from other clothes, but some people make them for a living and others can buy them from those people." He gestured to his bag, before grabbing it by the metal loop. "Take this for example- I didn't make it by hand, but my mom did. She's a seamstress, so it wasn't that difficult for her. It's made to look like the strap holding Jak's hoverboard, from 'Jak 2'! But in reality..." He grabbed an unseen zipper on one side, bringing it across and opening it. "It's a backpack! Pretty clever huh?"

"Wuaaah!!! Cool!" Part of Kiyoiri wondered what a hoverboard was, but her attention was soon taken by Shiro's goggles, and the conversation grew from there.

A few hours distance away however, there was something far more sinister in effect...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was just coffee. Good coffee, not the crap they had at work. He was seconds away from the door, having paid for his very _very_ nice smelling coffee, when a scream rang out and someone said 'dead'. God... Damn it...

So here he was, prevented from leaving the building due to the fact that he was in the building at the time of the murder. Although he had been cleared from the suspect list soon afterwards, his attention was grabbed by the one who had done so. The teen's voice had a thick western Japanese accent, though his skin was oddly dark for someone from that area.

His name, as he told the police? Heiji Hattori. Gibbs blinked, the name having been displayed on the news a few days ago. Interesting... It was either an hour of spare time or this really- He'd take watching the 'Kudo of the West' solve a case over that any day. Standing back, he watched, his eyes trained on the suspects and the rest of the room in the meantime. Good thing there were no cases at the moment- Otherwise, he would find himself at the other end of a few upset comments about a ruined weekend. And that... Generally got annoying.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people had told him his owamori caused it. These people were usually on the opposite end of Kazuha's glare shortly thereafter. Honestly though, he'd never really given much thought on this until now, when simply walking into the store after spotting the man that Yuusaku Kudo told him about led to a murder case. Said man had remained unapproachable by him though- The case took his attention rather quickly, a bad habit of his.

The victim's name was 'William Kelly'. He was found by one of the cooks in the back room near the sink. Before giving the man any aid, she had spotted the torn cable in his side, a small melted burn mark on his neck. She had screamed instantly, and was now one of four suspects. Her name was Timarra Reyes, and had been working there for less than a year.

While the police spoke with the other suspects, Heiji busied himself with examining the scene of the crime itself, finding himself joined by the same man that he had been about to talk to in the first place. Turning to him, he blinked. "Heh? Ah, you're still here?" In all honesty, they'd told him to expect to find him at the NCIS building but... Why was he still watching?

Gibbs simply nodded. "It's better than paperwork, and there are no outstanding cases... Unless you count this one, but I would say it's yours isn't it?" This resulted in a smirk from Heiji, before the teen looked back at the body stiffly 'attached' to the sink.

"Ah, I would say I have it but... There's something missing." Heiji's smirk turned into a frown, as he examined the burn mark and the cable. "At first glance, the culprit appears to be either Reyes, or the one at the cash register, 'Tia Alday'. But neither of them have any motive, especially Alday." The frown deepened slightly, before a sudden look of suspicion came over his face. "Hang on..." He stood up abruptly, walking past Gibbs to look out at the suspects. If he was right...

He grinned. So then, that was who it was. And the actual means of the kill were more than easy to prove with that...

It would seem that, as Heiji revealed the murderer to be a jealous 'Jacob Moretti', who had shocked the manager using a cable that Alday left in the alley to be thrown out, burning his hands slightly from the resulting heat even with the gloves on. The murder had been a 'split second' decision. Though Moretti had wanted to off his manager for a while, he had never found the 'proper opportunity'. When he saw Alday accidentally spill hot coffee on Kelly however, he'd distracted the woman with a complaining customer and gone to the back with the cord he'd salvaged earlier. He plugged it into the wall silently, and before Kelly could even see his murderer let alone scream, the frayed cable was stuck to his neck, shocking him into submission and death.

The cable was placed back outside, but, as Heiji told the police, there would be plenty of burnt skin and hair on it, as well as one vital thing that would give Moretti away- Rubber gloves that were slightly blackened by the cable and could not be used again were also in the garbage, and the culprit's finger prints were found inside.

As Moretti was dragged away, it would seem that Heiji forgot one very important thing.

Wasn't he supposed to ask an old friend of Yuusaku's, by the name of 'Leroy Jethro Gibbs', to meet some relatives at the airport? (Though honestly, he wondered why the man would comply, but hey, if they knew each other...)

….Whoops. "Ah-Ah!!" Gibbs was long gone by this point, having left to get a nice, hot, cup of coffee and heading to . "Kuso!!!" Many city-goers walked by the Osakan with looks of confusion and slight disturbance as Heiji pulled out his phone to call a taxi. Damn... Here he had hoped to surprise that guy...

At least he'd be able to finally get an explanation for what the hell happened in April...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the airport, Conan looked out the window as they landed, Kira leaning backwards in her own seat while Koji sat rather uncomfortably between Shiro and Kiyoiri. Shiro would be meeting with his uncle soon, who worked at the pentagon, and thus would likely not see them for a while. However, it was after this that Conan and Koji both looked over at each other with a frown.

Hang on... Speaking of which, Yukiko hadn't exactly come along had she? And she hadn't said that Yuusaku would be meeting them either, had she...

Kira stood up as soon as the seatbelt light came off, stepping off. "Ja, I will be seeing you soon, Conan-kun, Koji-kun, Kiyoiri-chan..." She looked over at Shiro, eyes closing partially and unseen by the others around her. "..._Mar_-kun..." While the other three paled slightly and watched as Shiro mimicked the reaction, she walked towards the door. "Now then, I believe that Abby-neechan should be here, which means your own temporary guardians are as well..."

Abby? That was the woman that Kira mentioned 'Luo Mei' contacting for her to stay with while in D.C. Wasn't she? What did she have to do with-

Exiting the plane with the others on board, Conan would soon find out why. Yuusaku was, indeed, not there. Instead, he had asked if Gibbs, along with a few members of his trusted team, could each watch one of them. 'You needn't worry about any of them- They are all quite mature for their age, I assure you. In fact, one of them may just prove a great asset with any cases that occur!'

Granted, it had still taken a bit from Yukiko to convince the NCIS team to comply.. But upon spotting the large sign that read 'Kira and Party', held by a young woman with black pigtails and gothic clothing, it became apparent that they had succeeded. Especially when a smug looking, dark skinned detective was spotted beside the group as well.

"Yooo, Ku- Conan!!" Conan sweatdropped as another obvious slip of the tongue was carefully covered, watching as Gibbs and most of the team looked at him oddly from the corner of their eyes. Oi oi oi... After two years he was still forgetting?

They would later find out that 'living arrangements' for the next two weeks, the last two weeks of summer, would be as follows. Kira, whose guardian met Abby online and had gotten to know her well, would be staying with said woman. According to Kira (As she had told Conan when he reluctantly asked the details of her 'clients case'), Abby was quite into the supernatural, but did not truly believe in spirits, thus making her case quite easy to do on her own.

The others in the meantime... Koji would be staying with Ziva, and the two were now eying each other with hidden suspicion. To Koji, Ziva seemed a tad familiar, but it was definitely not from an experience as 'Gin' so... He was quite confused as to why. Ziva in the meantime, simply looked at his eyes and found the same sort of stare she'd grown to recognize, the stare that had only slightly changed since Conan saw it as Shinichi nearly four years prior- The eyes of one who had killed, and was not afraid to do so again.

Conan himself found himself looking at McGee with his usual eye for detail.. And finding him 'ok' he supposed. Shaking his hand, he felt calluses on the finger tips, indicating a continuous use of a keyboard, or a game controller, as they were in those sorts of locations. He looked a bit like the kind of guy who would have been picked on as a kid honestly... And as he heard the words 'McGeek', he laughed nervously. Ahahaha... Still the brunt of peoples jokes it seemed. 'Timothy McGee' however... Running the name through his head, he stared off. "Timothy McGee.... That's an anagram of 'Thom E. Gemcity', neh?"

"Ummm..." McGee looked down at Conan, before looking back as he tried to decide how to continue a conversation that started with _that_ of all things, when it was a 10 year old boy speaking. "Y-Yes... Yes it is. Why..?" Yes, why _was_ a 9 year old boy from japan doing asking about the similarities of the name of an author for an adult's mystery novel... That was published in the US.

The boy simply smiled. "Your picture was in the back- I saw it on one of my cousin's books. It's a good one!" The calluses on his hand were definitely from a keyboard. As McGee stared down in shock, Conan looked over to see how Kiyoiri and Ran were doing with their 'guardians' for the moment.

Ran was currently looking at DiNozzo with a violent eye, hidden by a smile as DiNozzo was smacked over the head by Gibbs. "She's not interested DiNozzo."

This was followed by a glare from Heiji. "Geeze, she's how much younger than yah? What's wrong!" Ran also glared at the one she was stuck with for the next two weeks, her arms crossed.

"If you try _anything_, I'm leaving for a hotel..." This seemed to cover the phrase 'Try it, and I will snap your spine in two.'. Conan sweatdropped as he watched DiNozzo back away slightly, laughing nervously.

"Is he always like that...?"

McGee nodded. "I don't think even Ziva looked at him like that though." The two exchanged a glance, and Conan silently prayed that whatever case he had next would not involve Ran as a suspect.

Walking out of the airport to their separate vehicles (Conan grinning as McGee told him about Ziva's driving, and looking forward to monday), Koji watched as Kiyoiri went off to Gibbs' car, hoping in the back with a grin. He didn't like this... 'Immortal' as Kiyoiri was now, he wasn't sure about this... They still didn't know what kind of effects the DNATX had on her, due to the chemicals used in her creation. High speed mitosis had been used to create her after all, the chemicals being the reverse of APTX. So what would happen....?

Conan too, looked back at the car Kiyoiri was sitting in with a frown, but not for the same reasons.

'_mourning, regret, grief, love...' _Eyes narrowed as he took a seat in the McGee's own car, and, frowning, he shut his eyes in thought. The 'love' that was radiating there... It was the same as Shindou's love towards Kiyoiri, the love a parent held for their child.

But hadn't, according to his parents years before, Gibbs divorced three times without any children? Or maybe... Eyes opened up again as the car started, and Conan nodded to himself with conclusion before starting up a conversation with McGee about what would happen once they were at his apartment. He had some things to look into it seemed....

-------------------------------------------------------

AN: Fail case is fail. But really, it was meant to be anyways. :0 I'm still unsure about how I'm portraying Heiji... Not to mention most of the NCIS cast... But hey! You guys will help right? ..... Right? Ehhhh..... Don't hurt me.... But seriously, imagine the awesome that can now occur! :D Why, if NCIS got their hands on the Black Org case... Be solved within the year, I swear. :| Um, in anycase... You so know that Conan would have at least _skimmed_ 'Deep Six'. AT LEAST.

.....I swear it, the next murder case will be better! And take less than five paragraphs to solve! -meep!-


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Living Expenses – Paid By Investigation**

Kiyoiri had a very nice drive with Gibbs from the airport, in her opinion. It had been short notice of course- Gibbs had been under the impression that he would be watching over Yuusaku's oddly close to the family second cousin (Once removed), and instead had been told that said boy would be accompanied by his guardian's daughter, and two of his other oddly close second cousins (Whose father/uncle was the cousin of Yuusaku... This was getting to be a bit much...), things had gotten a bit tight.

Not that he'd shown it- He'd simply asked what the hell happened that one suddenly became four, and found himself given a chilling message.

Kiyoiri and 'Koji', the boy's two second cousins, were former targets of an organization that was so deeply rooted in the criminal underworld it was taking more than 10 years for the FBI and CIA together to capture. Heiji, who was relaying the message, obviously didn't know how- He had been told that it had to do with Conan, so the most he'd told Gibbs was that they had seen something they shouldn't have. But the point was that rather than going to either of those agencies, Yuusaku had specifically sought out the protection of NCIS. 'Just for the summer', they had said, 'after that, another of our friends is back in Tokyo, and able to look after them.'

But why couldn't this 'friend' keep an eye on them now? Still, he couldn't turn down the word of an old friend. Even the blurred memory of an old friend, who only now he could make out in his memories of their funeral...

"Gibbs-jiisan..?" Old man, grampa, whatever one he chose to translate the statement out to, he looked back through the mirror to respond to the girl who had spoken. "Are you ok? You look sad."

Did he? "I'm fine. So, Kiyoiri.. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" The girl seemed to be the type who would enjoy this sort of conversation really... A shadow passed over his face however, as he thought about that. Kelly... When she and Sharron witnessed a crime themselves, they had been killed... His hands unconsciously tightened on the wheel, the action seemingly ignored by Kiyoiri. He wouldn't let these children die either- None of them.

Kiyoiri's voice pulled him back to reality however, as she began to speak in her usual over-excited manner that was used around her friends. "Ah! Well, I like fish a lot! But I have a turtle instead, he's right here see!" Almost too fast for Gibbs to see, she pulled a small turtle from her sweater pocket, having somehow grabbed it from the highly cushioned animal carrier mere minutes before. "This is Kero! I named him that because he sounds like a frog! Listen!"

-_kerooooooo_- The turtle croaked, Gibb's eyes widening slightly at the turtle, turning his head to watch as the creature sunk into his shell. That was... Odd.

"He's just like other turtles really though... Oh! Gibbs-jiisan! Do you really solve crimes like Conan-kun? Are you a detective?"

Like Conan? Gibbs shook his head no, choosing not to tread where he shouldn't. "No... I'm an federal agent for NCIS. Your father's cousin asked me to make sure you don't end up hurt this summer." Even though it was only for two weeks... He had a lot of things to ask Yuusaku now, that was for sure.

Kiyoiri grinned. "Wowwww... Sugoi...." But... She had known this already. Watching the team before, she had spotted McGee's badge when he was showing it to Conan. After that, the link of 'team' proved that Gibbs was part of it, and from general actions she had witnessed, likely head of said team. She had tried not to 'analyze' him after that though. She didn't like making those judgments on people, her own experiences with her friends in Japan proved that to her. "Ah, does that mean that tomorrow..."

Gibbs nodded. "You'll be coming in with me tomorrow. You don't mind do you?" There was an honest nod in the back, and the man had to smile. Vance sure as hell wouldn't enjoy it, but hey, what was he going to do about it? Thanks to a few clever points from his mind and Yuusaku's, the director couldn't force them out, as they were just harmlessly visiting like the team of boy scouts McGee brought in before.

"Neh neh, when we get to your house, what's it like?"

"Well... There's a boat in the basement, if you want to help me build it..." If not, there were definitely other things he could set up for her, but if so...

"A boat? Wuaaah!! You mean some day you'll get to go sailing in it?" He would take that as a yes... The few minutes remaining of the drive ended up filled with conversation on the boat and how to build it, with Kiyoiri wondering how they were going to get it out.

-----------------------------------------------

When the next morning came however, the day was not at all met with the same emotions as the night before. It had started out innocently enough- Conan was answering questions that McGee asked about his 'second cousin, once removed' (Who was technically his father...) and the novel he'd authored, 'The Night Baron'. Kira was staring at Ziva's desk with a rather unnerving eye that was starting to bug her, and it was especially disturbing after the girl had asked if Ziva received permission from the past owner to use said desk. Koji in the meantime had gone downstairs and found himself meeting Ducky and Palmer, the boy crying for his nose as he watched an autopsy... And smelled it. He made sure to himself that his lunch would be as heavilly spiced and seasoned as possible, just to rid himself of the smell of old flesh.

And then Gibbs had come in, followed by a more than worried Kiyoiri. They had a case. The kids had to stay with Abby while they went- They themselves however, would be at Colonel Sigmund Brouwer's apartment, investigating his murder.

A murder that, had it not been called in by his nephew 'Shiro Kuroi', would likely have gone at least partially ignored by said group of kids. But as soon as Kiyoiri had heard that name and shared just who his nephew was...

Well, Palmer got a rather harsh stare when he returned from grabbing bags at the back of the van with three small children, Kiyoiri having stayed behind to distract Abby. (A difficult task, but not impossible. And Kiyoiri was _very_ good at distractions.) The damage was done though. Once Conan pointed out how illogical it would be to send an agent away with them, they had been allowed _near_ the crime scene, but not in it.

This didn't stop them (Or at least Conan, who didn't have a hyper sensitive nose, and wasn't busy 'comforting' Shiro) from going in anyways however. While Gibbs spoke with Shiro, a few comments from Kira being dropped in with a chilled feeling arising at each one, Conan slipped behind the rest of the team to examine the body from behind the counter, his presence just barely being missed by Ziva.

The deceased had already been named of course. But looking around the room, things were just plain confusion. No signs of struggle, with the only proof of an assailant being a single look of horror on the Colonel's face, along with the lamp he'd knocked over when shot in the neck with a single dart. Focusing on his eyes momentarily, Conan shut them before opening wide brown bird-like ones and focusing on said dart. It was mostly drained but... Appeared to have been filled with some sort of violet substance. But what kind of poison was that colour?

"I think that's enough solo investigation for you, 'Conan'."

"Urk!" Conan paled, turning around to look up at a very unimpressed Gibbs. That was a very calculating eye.. Very calculating... And had Gibbs said 'solo'? "Ahahaha... Gibbs-ojii! I'll just go now..." There was no screwing around with Gibbs. Sadly, screwing around included attempting to escape as well.

Grabbed by the shoulder, Gibbs turned him around to face him. "No.. No, you're going to be helping me solve this case I think.."

"Eh... What?" That was... Unexpected. Very unexpected. Help him solve it? Why would a federal agent ask him to help with a crime? Then again, after he'd proved himself to Jodie...

Led over to the body by the special agent, Gibbs got down on his knees and handed Conan a pair of gloves. Spotting the boy's confused glance (Though it was more that he was being _asked_ to help as Conan), he simply waved them slightly. "Rule number 2. Always wear gloves at a crime scene."

Taking the gloves slowly and slipping them on, he noted that the rest of the team was currently outside of the room with Shiro and Kira. "Ano... Gibbs-ojii..." Keeping this child-facade going while doing this was really difficult... "Where is everyone?"

"Oh.. They're doing what I told them." He stood, crossing his arms and looking down at the boy below him. "Namely finding anyone else connected to the Colonel."

He swallowed. "And... Ducky? Shouldn't he be examining the body, or at least taking it away..?"

"He will..." That was a really creepy look he was getting right now... "But first, I need to ask you a few things." Looking at the body of the tanned man before him, he spoke. "What do you think of this, Conan?"

Now he was being asked his opinion... Shit. Keep it '9', he told himself calmly, keep it '9'. "Eh... Well, he was shot in the neck with that dart, like in the cartoons right? So he was probably poisoned! Ehehehe..." Gibbs looked at the boy with a look that said 'don't fuck with me, I know you know a lot more than that.' Conan coughed, before giving up on the general 'child' cover up. "...The poison that killed him is of unknown origin, at least until Abby-neechan is able to identify it, but it was definitely that which killed him. However.. He shows no signs of struggle, indicating that he was either caught of guard or knew his killer, which brings the question of why he was shot with a long-range dart in order to be killed..."

Gibbs seemed slightly pleased with this answer- So Yuusaku was right, the kid was incredible with this. Still, not something his own team wouldn't have come up with in the same amount of time. A breeze blew past however, and Conan pulled a small badge off his shirt, the agent behind him narrowing his eyes slightly. Watching the boy speak into it softly, he jerked his head back around as he heard Koji speak into an identical badge as well.

"Oi Hisoka..." Conan looked at the window as he spoke, examining the sill and staring out at the buildings across from it. "Ask Kuroi-san if his uncle left the window open last night..."

From the end closer to Gibbs, there was a rather quick response. "Yea, the kid had the windows open to stay cool... You thinking a sniper?"

Conan shook his head. "Maybe." He looked over at Gibbs, his face set into the severe and calculating expression he usually took when solving a case. "Maybe.. But a dart shouldn't be able to travel that sort of distance without breaking on contact. Least of all this one- It's made up mostly of glass..."

"Glass!?" Koji's voice suddenly went from the usual laid-back version resulted from his 'tiger half' to the intense and stressed side that he would have normally held. "Megane... Tell me everything about that dart!"

Before Conan did however, he seemed to realize that Gibbs had heard every word they both said. "Later," he whispered, voice soft enough that only Koji's fine-tuned ears would pick it up. "Right now would be a bad time..."

Walking over, Gibbs saw Conan hurriedly shove the badge back on his shirt before looking back up. "So... Did you see something important then?" A kind smile was on his face, but looking at Conan's expression as the boy himself looked at him, it faltered slightly.

"Ah... No... I didn't see anything." No way... No god damned.. "Nothing. Sorry, Gibbs-ojii."

As Gibbs watched the boy walk back, and the rest of his team come in to gather the remaining evidence, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. The boy was more than smart he decided, watching as he and Koji got together and began discussing something, Kira in the meantime handing the shaking Shiro a badge identical to their own. He was an investigative genius.. And with the maturity he had just shown there, there was one thing he was certain of.

This was no kid. A kid couldn't look you in the eye and lie like he had now. He'd seen something... Heard something that now had both boys about as scared as the victim's nephew.

As to what that something was... He would have to find it before it was too late.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Abbs," Gibbs walked in to the forensics lab about an hour and a half after the team had returned, watching as Abby turned towards him, a frown on her face while she took the caff-pow from the man's hand. "Find anything?"

She crossed her arms after setting the caff-pow down. "You're pushing the machines really hard Gibbs. Really _really_ hard you know that? I don't think I've had them running this hard since.. Since... I don't even know." She turned, clicking a few things on the computer before turning back with a frown. "This.. Weird purple goop from the dart, whatever it is, does not exist Gibbs! It's not natural OR synthetic! It's just... Not there, at all, which is just unheard of!" Grabbing the caff-pow and taking a long sip from it, she frowned. "Gibbs, I'm telling you, there's nothing here..."

He was still there. Looking at the computer, he narrowed his eyes in a squint. "Can't you find out what it's made of, Abby?"

"Tried it." She glared at the screen, slurping the caff-pow again as she clicked the window holding the substance's chemical makeup on it. "Whatever it's made of, we don't have it... Or at least, we don't know we have it, which is kinda hinky because, if someone found a new chemical, they would have at least told the media, so the entire world would know by now and, and I don't even know if this is what killed him, but if Ducky can't find anything else then it _has_ to be it so-"

"Abby." The woman blinked, stopping and wringing her hands slightly.

"I just... It's... It's like the computers have turned against me, giving me these horrible results!" She turned to the computer again, a determined stare now in place as she looked at the keyboard. "I cannot give up though! No matter what, no matter how Gibbs, you will have an answer before this day is-" She turned, looking around with wide eyes and blinking. "I _hate_ when he does that!"

In the corner of the lab, Kira simply chuckled. "Yes.. I must admit, my client does not enjoy the experience as well..."

Abby chose not to ask the girl about said client, instead tapping away on her keyboard as she looked for the answer to the bizarre compound before her. Questions later, shoot first.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Gibbs returned upstairs, he saw Koji standing behind one of the pillars with a look of fear on his face. Kiyoiri as well, had been pulled behind the pillar, and the boy was watching carefully as one of the agents assigned with Shiro Kuroi's protection walked away from the team's area, before he let out a nervous sigh. "Hwah... That was close..."

"Koji-kun, what was that about? I thought we were playing hide and seek..." Before Koji had the chance to answer, and before Gibbs could even ask about Koji, McGee walked up and did something he likely shouldn't have.

Gibbs had clearly been about to ask Koji something... But McGee still said something. Wasn't that interrupting...?

"Ummmm... Boss?" The look not at all unlike those McGee received when he spilt Gibbs' coffee appeared, and the man stuttered slightly as he tried to speak again. "Ahh, that was Witness Protection... We kind of have a time limit, see..."

A deep and confident voice from behind cut McGee off, continuing what the man had been about to say while the two children behind Gibbs slunk off towards Abby's lab. "Your case now has a time limit of two weeks Gibbs." The toothpick in Director Vance's mouth switched sides, flicking over to the right of his mouth as he continued. "If you don't solve the case before summer ends, FBI agents currently situated in Japan have the right to take him under their protection, along with his family, to prevent their separation and possible deaths. Clock's ticking Gibbs."

Gibbs frowned with his eyes, watching as Vance walked back up the stairs to his office and looked back. "You'd best be moving now if you expect to find the culprit." As the rest of the team looked at each other, they hurried over to their respective desks, McGee looking sideways at Gibbs before coughing. "Ah... I'll start a search on people who worked with the Colonel that had motive to kill him.."

"I'll start calling some numbers..."

"I'll go help Abby identify that poison now..."

Walking past Ziva to his desk, Gibbs' 'eye frown' continued to deepen. No leads, not even a solid idea of what the murder weapon was...

As DiNozzo would say, 'Not good.'

--------------------------------------------------------

AN : Hello hello hello! Things got weird already, and it looks like Gibbs is, as per usual, already on a very important lead in terms of figuring out who Conan is. Seriously, the kid is going to be screwed if he isn't careful. D: Innnnn any case... Let me know if you think anything's off yea? Even the teensiest tiniest things..... Like the invisible flea on Koji's left ear...

Wait, that's not it.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Kidnapping**

Two days had passed since then, and Gibbs' impatience was becoming clear. Watching from DiNozzo's desk as he came in, McGee looked down at the seated agent nervously. "He looks pretty upset..."

The kids thankfully, were not there at the moment- They were downstairs with the more 'calm' ones, namely Ducky and Palmer, supervised by Ran so as not to disturb the pair too much. Granted, it looked more like Koji and Conan were in fact avoiding the upper floor altogether; Both boys had had the habit of leaving the room as soon as Gibbs name was even mentioned, both muttering something about 'Kiyoiri' and 'sugar'. THAT couldn't be good...

Shaking that off and looking at McGee, DiNozzo had a sarcastic smile on his face. "Well now Probie, I can't see what that would be... It's not as though we haven't gained any more information on the case since the call came in- Oh wait! We haven't!"

"Perhaps you have not, but I have." Mentally adding a 'finally' to that statement, Ziva looked up from where she had been flipping through a series of files, walking over and holding it in front of the two men. "Take a look at this- These are files that Shiro had in his room."

The files were snatched up by Gibbs before the men could look at them however, and the team could only watch as their boss held it from his eyes so he could read the fine print text. ".....'Virtual Reality'?"

"Um... That would be video games projected into the mind, through the use of-" Catching the look that was usually sent his way when a digital rant needed to be prevented, McGee coughed. "It's.. It's a way to play games as though they were actual events..."

"Well of course it is McGee, but what does it have to do with this case?" McGee looked away, before sitting down. How did he explain that part without being interrupted...

Ziva however, had prepared for this it seemed. "It seems to have everything to do with it actually- The substance that killed our Colonel was created through the machine that Shiro played with only last week." Grabbing the mouse off Tony's desk (And knocking his sandwich into the garbage as well to the man's dismay), she clicked once to the images she'd prepared on her own computer. "This," she told them, "Is a sample of Shiro Kuroi's blood sample last year. When Abby took a sample earlier to make sure he hadn't been poisoned himself however, _this_ is what we found instead."

An image of the blood cells, oddly purplish and mutated in appearance along side the actual cells in the body appeared, an next to it a sample of the poison that killed Sigmund. "We have been looking for a poison that was directly in front of us the entire time!" Her eyes were wide as she turned to the others, before continuing. "The poison was created in his body, naturally, because of an accident in a 'Cocoon' game machine!"

Tony stared up at the screen for a few moments, shaking his fingers before rubbing his fore head. "Ok... You're basically saying that the reason why this guy died is because they took his nephew's blood, put it in a dart, and shot him with it?" He sat up in his chair, looking directly at Ziva. "Well that's great, except how the heck did they get his blood?"

McGee suddenly froze. "...Sigmund's doctor." The others turned to him, watching McGee swiftly type a few keys in as a profile on the woman came up. "She gave him a look over shortly after he arrived here, at the Colonel's request. Woman claims to be a 'Dr. Lilian MacHardy', I ran her records through late last night, and while it's hard to tell, she definitely wasn't an existing person last year."

Gibbs turned to leave for the elevator. "Address, McGee?"

"Ah.... Boss, about that.." The other three looked at McGee, the man coughing under the stares. "The doctor was reported missing about three days ago... And her house address was found to lead to an apartment scheduled for demolition two days ago." He coughed again, looking away nervously as Tony rolled his eyes turned back to his desk, Ziva heading to hers as Gibbs made a move to head downstairs to check on Abby. "I'm.. sorry, boss, I.."

"Did not Gibbs-san say this was a sign of weakness, McGee-san?" The team looked to the opposite entrance, McGee nodding mutely. Why was Kira up here... She handed him a badge, an odd smile on her face. "Perhaps you could simply ask Shiro-kun if you are stuck? After all, this badge is the same as one he has- It holds a communicator within it, we used them for hide and seek back home."

McGee blinked, picking up the badge and examining it before Tony came over and peered over the man for a glance as well. "Ooooh... Tiny." Picking it up as McGee scowled, he twisted a few dials before a garbled voice in Japanese suddenly came over at maximum volume. "Gah!"

'_Ah! Kira-chan! I... I think I remembered something, I-'_

Regaining his composure, Tony turned the volume dial down and coughed, before speaking. If the kid remembered something. "You're talking to Agent DiNozzo here kid- What is it that you remember?" The shift from joking to serious... Quite frightening sometimes...

There was a pause on the other end, before Shiro's shaking voice came over in English. "I... Well..." There was more silence, and Tony frowned. "I'm sorry DiNozzo-san! I have to go!" -click!-

That was... Weird. Nothing they could really do to force him to speak though. Looking over at the other two as he stared, he glared. "What are you all looking at, come on! We have work!" What happened there was probably something simple right... Nothing that bad-

"Grab your gear! We're going to pay a visit to Witness Protection!" Gibbs pretty much walked in to tell them this and walked out just then, Tony blinking as he looked up from his partially sitting position.

"Wait, what?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in a thankfully empty and as per usual dark interrogation booth, three people sat in silence, two of them quite a bit shorter than the dark skinned teen leaning against the wall. A frown was set on his face, and the cap on his head covered the upper half of it to seemingly emphasis said expression. "So then, lemme get this straight Ku-" He sighed, rubbing his head and the back of his neck as he corrected himself. "'Edogawa'. God, d'you know how weird that's gonna be, calling you that now? ….. You really can't turn back?"

There was a nod from one of the smaller ones, as Conan grimaced. "You say that like it's the end of everything... It's not like I'm going to die because of it neh? Plus, if anything, this makes things easier to find out about the ones who did this in the first place." There was an uncomfortable shifting sound from the chair beside him as Koji pulled up his legs to sit on them. He had to hide a smirk from the boy's perceptive night vision; But really, the way he sat was far too cat like..

"True... True, this does make for a good cover but..." He scowled, before turning to Koji. "While I can understand that you've gotten over 'Neechan, that doesn't explain what this brat has to do with anything!" A matching scowl formed on the boy's face, the chair swiveling to face Heiji.

"Tch! We explained that yesterday didn't we?!"

An equally harsh response was shot back, Conan sighing in annoyance as the bickering began. "Yea, yah said you were a second cousin who saw something he shouldn't have, but what I wanna know is what that 'shouldn't have' was!"

"Well why don't you take a guess, oh 'Nishi no Meitantei'?" As the arguing continued and Conan shook his head, he briefly thought of congratulating Heiji on finally getting a title without his name in it.... The 'Great Detective of the West' was better than the 'Kudo of the West' any day, at least in his case.

"You think I can guess from that you little-"

"Can both of you quiet down before Gibbs-san finds us?" At the sudden entry of Conan's voice, the other two turned. "Hah... I already told you Hattori- Both Hisoka and Kiyoiri-chan are involved because of the incident with Vodka. Kiyoiri was kidnapped, and both he and I were involved in getting her back. But enough of this... We need to talk about that dart; Whatever was inside obviously was fatal, but unless someone came in and shot the Colonel close up, there's no way it could have made that distance without shattering!"

Reluctant to move on to the topic of the dart, Heiji simply nodded stiffly before listening as a Koji joined in with an eagerness that was completely opposite his own. "I already told you- It's more than just glass, it's reinforced glass. Not to mention, if they used the casings I think they did, then distance isn't at all something to worry about!"

Heiji glared at Koji again, leaning forwards as he got off the wall to walk over. "And I told you that the dart would have gone through or mostly through this guy's neck if that's the case! We're dealing with close range here! And in any case... With that in mind, and all of the people close to Colonel Brouwer off the list, who on earth is the suspect?"

Oddly enough, Koji answered this one as well. "Oh, probably the same one who kidnapped his nephew.."

"What!?" Conan and Heiji jumped from where they stood, looking over at the now frowning boy as he stood up on the chair. Wincing, he tilted his head towards the hall a bit before sighing.

"From what the guys outside are going on about, Kuroi just got kidnapped by a-" Koji's eyes widened, an odd chocking noise being made as the other two frowned.

"Oi oi, don't tell me you're getting a hairball Hisoka..." Waiting for the usual glare that would normally be sent is way with such a comment, Conan frowned as his friend simply hopped off the chair with a paler than usual face. "...Hisoka?"

Ignoring both, Koji simply bolted from the room and down the hall, while Conan prevented Heiji from doing the same. "Eh? K-Edogawa! He just ran off for no reason, I think that it'd be a good idea to go after him...."

Conan shook his head. "Iye. Right now that's probably not the best idea..." Before Heiji could say anything more, an NCIS agent came by to shoo them out of the room. All the while, the smaller of the two frowned.

'_Hisoka... That was more than just fear you ran out of this time..._' Breaking away from the others with the excuse of the 'washroom', he turned towards where he had just seen Koji run. '_You better not do something stupid before I get there..._'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mhmhmhmhmhm..." It was such a high and annoying voice that was chuckling he told himself as he opened his eyes, but as soon as he did he immediately attempted to get up and scream.

"MGGGN!" Instead, however, he found himself frozen on the floor under the gaze of the one who had cornered him earlier.

"Mnhnhnhnhn..." Again with the laughter... "Now now little Shiro, you weren't trying to call for help were you?" Shiro shut his eyes as the woman in front of him laughed, unable to speak from the gag she'd placed on him. He was tied stiffly to nothing but himself, bound up rather like a ball of elastics. The woman lifted his head up to hers, the grin still wide and in place. "You should know better than this... After all, even if you did somehow escape, I can tell you that I would absolutely not mind killing those people at all... Especially, that sneaking fox, Gibbs!"

He whimpered, a sound that scarcely escaped through the gag as the woman before him stepped back with a frown. "Get him in the car," She yelled to her partner, "We need him in Tokyo by 02:00!" No one was going to take this one... No one...

"Gggr.... Gggg...." The woman frowned, turning around as what appeared to be violet 'lightening' sparked off Shiro, the ropes still well in place as a bizarre change occurred through the boy's now black tears. "Gnnngggg....." Hair stood up on end as it dyed white and grey, skin darkened to a sickly pale blue. Horns grew from his forehead, and his ears lengthened to unbelievable lengths. Even Shiro's eyes were completely black, glaring through tears as the ropes held him tight still. Her partner backed off as he began thrashing on the floor, muffled screams coming through the gag.

The woman smirked. "Well now... It looks like we know why that poison hasn't killed you yet, don't we?" She chuckled as the boy continued to struggle, eventually caving in and simply glaring at the floor, motionless. "My my.. I knew you were the source of it, but I didn't know just how much... It looks like we have some tests to do..."

As the small tracker on Shiro's shoe beeped, the boy wearing it whimpered again as his ears fell downwards. Scared... So scared....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do we have Abb's?" Unlike the reaction of two days before, Gibbs watched as Abby looked back with a grin.

Holding up two hands, she made the motion for him two pause before she spoke, taking her second caff-pow of the day. "Just hang on a second, because what I want to show you, is cool and creepy beyond anything you have ever seen!" The woman frowned, beginning to ramble off. "Well, maybe not _everything_, like there was that one time when you-"

"Abbs?"

Abby looked up, wide eyes blinking before the woman realized what she had been doing. "Right! So, I was going through that communicator like you said... And I found that while they don't record messages, they still store parts of the last feed. And guess what I found, behind Shiro's last words?"

"His location?"

The grin grew, and Abby clicked the play button on the computer. "Better."

'_Don't make any wrong moves boy...-Bztbt!-_'

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. He knew that voice. He knew there was a reason he didn't want that woman on his team... He knew...

Turning back to Gibbs, the grin was still in place. "I just found our kidnapper."

"As have I..." The two turned, Abby blinking with surprise as Kira stepped out of the shadows and held out a pair of glasses. "Would you care to have a go at this device, Gibbs-san?"

With a face devoid of any instantly recognizable emotion, Gibbs slowly took the glasses from Kira's hands, holding them up and immediately spotting a small button on the rim. Before pushing it however, he frowned faintly- The glass... Conan had claimed to be horribly near-sighted before, but the glass in the frames were just that; Glass. Pushing the button on the side, he soon found out why.

It would probably be hard to make a small GPS locator 'perscription made' after all... Come to think of it, how did Conan lose these? They weren't the kind of thing that you could afford to lose... Simple and straight to the point... And it appeared that Shiro's location had come to a stop.

While Gibbs was finding this rather important detail from the glasses Kira seemed to have pilfered from Conan, Tony and Ziva were on their way back from questioning some of Colonel Brouwer's more 'motivated' friends. No luck there- Each and everyone of them had a solid alibi. They hadn't murdered him or kidnapped Shiro... And now, it was late at night, Gibbs himself had long since gone back to his house with Kiyoiri, or at least dropped her off with Ran, and Ziva still needed to get Koji back to her apartment. (Where he was sleeping in a nice and familiar position by the couch.)

A small 'thump' from the back as they drove however instantly had Tony pulling the brakes and Ziva turning to the back with him. Tony looked over at Ziva from the corner of his eye as the back went silent again. "You check or me?"

"If I go, I may just kill what ever is in there..."

There was a bit of silence, before Tony unbuckled his seatbelt. "Good point. I don't want bloodstains in my trunk." Ducking under the hood of the car as Ziva unbuckled her seatbelt, he turned to look at the also 'out of car' woman' with a frown. "Hey! I thought you were staying in there!"

She pulled out her gun, nodding her head towards it. "I may have said this, yes, but I would rather you not look like holey wheat when this is done. ….However that may work."

"It's cheese actually, not wheat, but thanks." There was a bit of an awkward silence there, as Tony as well took out his weapon and held it aimed towards the trunk. "Ready? Three.."

"Two..."

"ONE!" The pair clicked the trunk open immediately, and two sets of arms sprung up simultaneously.

"Don't shoot!" Ziva and Tony had to stare for a few moments to see if what they saw was true. They both looked back at each other, and then at the pair in their trunk. Koji they could understand- Not only had Ziva not been there to pick him up, but he had apparently managed to surprise the woman once. (And for Koji, it was not a good experience.)

But Conan? ".....I'm calling McGee."

"Wait, let us explain!" Conan was quickly silenced by Ziva as DiNozzo put away the gun to take out his phone.

Still holding her own, she glared at the two boys. "Yes, please do explain why I almost had to put a bullet through your skull!" Looking at each other, the two boys bit their lips, before the shorter of the two decided to speak.

"Well..." Conan was suddenly silenced however, as Koji grabbed the boy's glasses, pushed a button, and held them in Ziva's face.

"Megane has tracking glasses. The coordinates and location names are all in Japanese. Need any help finding the tracker on the fanboy's shoe?" As Ziva and Tony looked at each other for a split second, Koji found himself on the other end of a glare from Conan. "What?"

The glasses wearing boy simply scowled. "What happened to the cover story...?" This resulted in a shrug, and a muttered 'Like hell they'd fall for that Megane', which was cut off by Tony jerking his head towards the car as Ziva pulled out her phone.

"Gibbs." There was a pause as Koji cocked his head slightly, listening as best he could to hear what was going on.

"_Yea, what is it?"_

As the tracer on Conan's glasses slowed in movement, Ziva held the glasses up at the exact angle that Gibbs currently was in his own car. "We may have located Shiro Kuroi, possibly his kidnappers as well," She continued, getting in the car as the two in the back hurriedly buckled their seatbelts, Ziva having commandeered the driver's seat. "The location is-"

"_210, Madison Ave- See you in 10 minutes." -click!-_

Ziva scowled as she shut the phone, both hands mercilessly steering the car to what Tony was sure would be 'certain doom' as chuckling came from the back. Turning around, Tony frowned as Koji smirked.

"Bet you hate it when he does that eh?" Deciding not to say anything in response as another stomach weakening turn came, Tony instead faced the front again with a pale face.

It would later occur to Koji (It already did in Conan's case) that stating something that proved he heard the conversation would be a bad idea.

And extremely bad one, to be precise.

------------------------------------------

AN: Took me long enough! |D But hey! Exams are done, so expect quicker updates! ^___^

.......

I can't wait to see all your faces after reading that scene with Shiro in it. 83


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Bullets. Avoid Them.**

Somehow, Ziva told herself as she leaned on the door to the roof of the building Shiro's tracker was currently paused at, they had gotten there before Gibbs. Koji and Conan were still (Hopefully, she told herself with a mental frown) in the car, waiting for Gibbs and McGee while she and Tony held their guns and prepared to burst out onto the roof.

From outside, they could hear muttering, along with the steadilly rising wirr of the helicopter outside. Inside, she could hear her quickened pulse, and the shuddered breath of her partner as they prepared for what they were about to do. A simple look to the side, before a shaky nod of approval as they turned to face the door with their weapons at the ready.

_Three... Two... One.._

-_**BOOM!-**_ "NCIS!" The shout came stimoutaniously, partially drowned out as the woman across from them in the already hovering helicopter simply grinned, sitting on the side with her arms in the air.

"Well now... Who else would it be then?" Something wasn't right here, Ziva told herself as she covered for Tony while he walked forwards to apprehend the culprit. The pilot was occupied, Shiro was clearly visible (Or rather, his shadow was) through the window of the helicopter, and their target was right-

-_click-_ Things seemed to move in slow motion as soon as she heard that. Turning around, she barely saw the flash of a solid black rifle in the dark before turning swiftly to the front again screaming a warning out. And barely a second after that, she watched him fall, a small violet dart protruding from the back of his head. Ziva turned back, fireing three times at the shadowed figure as she should have in the first place; She could have prevented Tony being shot, if she could just-

-_click-_ She felt a small prick on her forehead before succuming to the darkness...

--------------------------------------------------------

On the middle floor, Koji's eyes widened before turning skyward. "Shit. Megane..."

"Gunshots!" Conan's eyes were equally as wide, the two boys looking at the other before rushing up the stairs. Those two were probably up there already, if that was the case... But at the same time.. "Hisoka... Gunshots create a certain sound depending on what they are made of, what make of gun it is, and what they hit... Did you hear anything specific about those shots?" The pair continued the run up the next three flights of stairs, Koji nodding immediately after the question was asked.

His face was oddly white as he did so... "Yea... Those things... They weren't metal, whatever they were. And rather than piercing something, they simply became embedded... Which means that whoever shot those bullets is probably..." The silent answer was left hanging as the door came in sight, Koji looking forwards. "Lets go!"

"O-Oi! Hisoka!!" Damn it! Conan mentally slapped his forehead as Koji rushed out after the hovering helicopter, barely fazed at the multitude of darts hitting his body. He swore, if Koji was more like he used to he wouldn't have run out there...

Of course, he likely wouldn't have come here either... Tearing off his shoes and socks, he stuffed them in his bag, scowling as he ran out. He was going to have to fly for this one, if the fact that Koji had now managed to climb onto the now rising helicopter was any sighn. Had to give him credit for holding on, considering the woman had smashed Koji's fingers in about 5 times with her now empty gun already. Wings sprouted in the place of his arms, and Conan lept up to help out, only to be pushed back by the force of the helicopter. Aaah crap, that wasn't good.. "Hisoka!!" He hoped that idiot heard him. His wings beat the air furiously as he darted around before finally holding his position. "HISOKA! I can't get nea-"

"KINDA BUSY MEGANE!" While Conan was flapping around the helicopter, Koji was now hanging on to the damn thing by about two fingers. It seemed that the constant healing and smashing was not doing good things to his nerves, which were constantly sending loving signals of pain back to his head. Speaking of his fingers... Koji grunted with pain as they were crushed _again_ by the but of a rifle, causing a split second release. "Aww shit..." His head turned downwards as he fell, the empty street below coming closer and closer before the expected 'jolt' was felt, accompanied by loud flapping noises above him. ".....About time..."

A slightly deeper, more 'shinichi' sounding voice sounded from a large beak above the boy, muffled slightly by the shirt, bag, and tear-away pants in his mouth.. Er.. Beak. "Would you rather I drop you?"

"...No. But we should probably follow those guys... If I'm right, they're headed to a very familiar place now, so we need to get a ride..."

There was a stiff nod from the bird/boy, and with that, the pair disappeared after the clouds, two men walking out onto the scene of the roof just seconds afterwards.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had pulled up to the building just as the gunshots fired. Gibbs acted first, throwing the door of the car open and running into the building with his gun raised, the door slamming shut with a crash. McGee followed soon after, his movements more clumsy to start, but quickly seen as those with meaning. Guns at the ready, both men ran up the stairs, eyes flicking back and forth to locate any hidden shadows in the silence.

Two flights of stairs. Three flights of stairs. Four flights, five flights, six, seven- The top. A single door was hanging open haphazardly, the roar of a helicopter clearly heard from their position. The two ran out, McGee watching Gibb's back as he ran out to see the two motionless forms of the other half of his team.

Time seemed to slow. Not a word was spoken as he turned his head upwards and fired multiple rounds at the retreating helicopter- But it was already to late. Feminine laughter sounded in the distance, the voice haunting the night sky while the helicopter vanished into the air. The laughter seemed warped in Gibbs mind as he glared upwards, as if willing the machine to simply explode that instant and dissolve the woman flying it. McGee's voice from his location above Tony's body tore time back to its proper speed, the man bearing a grim look on his face as he spoke.

No. McGee was shaking his head, and looked pale. "Boss." No. "I... I called Ducky... He'll be here in a few minutes..." No no no no... As with Kate, with Shannon... With Kelly... A cold feeling washed over, Gibbs, his face growing white as he looked down at the two who had been arguing with each other just that morning.

Tony's head was turned from the position McGee had moved it to in order to check for his non-existent pulse, his arms at his sides on his now back-down position. His eyes were shut, and his face was eerily calm save for the slightly furrowed eyebrows, making him appear to be sleeping through a nightmare. And Ziva, beside him... She was face up, on her back, her expression one of shock where the dart sat above her forehead. And on both, the darts quivered just slightly, the needles on their tips unable to completely support their weight.

He'd... Failed. He had failed as a team leader, and as a friend. As someone who worked with them for the past 4 plus years...

McGee's voice snapped him out of his thoughts yet again. "I'll... I'll go wait for Ducky downstairs..." McGee.. Sudden paranoid thoughts ran through his mind as he said this. What if someone was still there? What if McGee was next, what if-

"...Alright." The kids. The two boys, they should still be in the car that Tony and Ziva had left downstairs... "Check for Conan and Koji... Make sure that they're alright." His voice sounded distant even to himself, but McGee understood. Turning, he headed towards the door before a loud crack echoed through the air.

-_klink!-_ "What was that?.." McGee turned, his eyes following Gibbs towards the small glass noise that followed after it. Something... Purple.. Was seeping from the darts, oozing in a volume far beyond what could be contained within it. The reddish-violet liquid poured from Ziva's forehead and Tony's neck in a fashion oddly similar to blood from a bullet wound, McGee frozen with shock as he and Gibbs merely watched.

They couldn't touch it or they would be poisoned for all they knew... But what the hell was happening? The liquid didn't pool around the bodies to their horror either- Instead, it began to wrap its way around the cloth and flesh of their forms, forming a twisted and reflective cocoon casing around the two before compressing.

Acid? Latex? What was it? McGee's thoughts whirled as he stood, barely comprehending what he was seeing. Was this some sort of nightmare, something he could wake up from? Or was the impossible happening before his eyes? Bad enough, that there was a substance created from a mixture of blood and wires causing this, a substance that resulted from nothing more than an accident with a game... But that this very substance, supposedly fatal, was compressing the corpses of his two co-workers of the past 4 and 6 years?!

All they could do was watch and see what happened to the bodies. Watch...

And wait.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he had been shot, he had seen two things. The first was concrete and blood, probably from his nose. The rest was a wave of violet, covering his almost completely closed eyes completely.

But those two things were separated by an incredibly painful span of time. After he'd been shot, he was paralyzed. He couldn't move, he could barely breath... And yet through the rush of blood he heard in his ears, he knew that somehow, even with a shot that should have been fatal, he was still alive. And then he'd heard McGee's voice as

'_No... Dammit Tony, no... You can't die...'_ He didn't have a pulse. It was impossible, unbelievable, and he wanted to scream that he was alive, that he could _hear_ his blood being pumped through his veins, but... He couldn't.

And then, an even worse surge of pain had come. His heart had raced, his body tensed invisibly, and a cold feeling of wet came across his neck. The feeling had spread, through his hair, over his eyes... Painfully, slowly, into his nostrils and partially opened mouth, burning his lungs as it poured in. If he could just die now... He would have hit himself for thinking this at any other time, but if he could.. If only...

Was Ziva going through this? Or was she already dead? That last chilling thought burned into his mind, and at last his body knew darkness.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"_This is so... Arrrgggh! You can figure it out Abby, you can you can you can you can..." _

Huh? Tony's eyes fluttered open, a few bars of light hitting his face as he frowned. He was... Alive?

"_But how can something like this create fictional animals? It makes no sense...."_

More importantly, was that Abby? He groaned, grabbing his head and sitting up before opening his eyes completely. "What the..." The best way to describe where he was would be 'plastic' he supposed. He could see the wall of Abby's lab through a small metal grate, which was held closed by a simple sliding lock. The walls around said grate, along with the ceiling however looked like... Well, tupperware really. And was that a water bottle attached to the grate?

"This had better be McGee's idea of a really, really bad joke..." He rubbed his forehead, groaning as he went to stand. "Ow!" Ok. Plastic ceiling was closer than he thought. Leaning down as he stood in a bent and hunched position, he rubbed his head again before opening his eyes.

That would be about when Abby heard a very interesting scream coming from the cat carrier on her desk.

"EYAAAAAAH!"

Nearly dropping the sample of blood/poison in her hands, Abby fumbled with the vial before turning towards the cat carrier. "T-Tony!?" The next few minutes were... Rather chaotic.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To fully understand what the hell was going on, one would have to have been in Abby's lab a few minutes before Gibbs and the others returned with Tony and Ziva's 'bodies'. They told her that they were still alive yes... But it took quite a bit of convincing on their part to prove that the small, furry things that resembled fictional rodents they brought in were in fact those two.

They had no clue if they would still be human in those tiny little bodies- Much as it killed her to say it. But as the director said... They couldn't take the risk. No matter how.. Damn... _Impossible _it was. It was hard enough to figure out that this purple substance was causing a seemingly natural death- But that it could do this? If it hadn't been for the rather large amount of knowledge for the game that McGee had, not to mention the fact that they'd seen the... Odd... Transformation in person.

"Unnnnnggg...." The two cat carriers sat on her computer desk, sleeping froms of what were apperantly her friends inside of them. She'd need blood samples, hair.. Scratch that, fur samples... Grabbing a syringe and carefully opening the door to Ziva's, she blinked. When she'd looked inside with the door shut, she could only see the hair that was for some reason still on her head. But, taking the sample, she also noticed that somehow even the clothes they were wearing had changed- Small, rabbit-sized camo pants and a tank top were still on her body, and Abby chose not to question it until she was done with the blood sample. Closing the door quietly, she went over to her machines to analyze whatever it was that did this.

If she could figure out what it was, maybe they could reverse it.. Just maybe...

She had finally calmed down enough to work when she heard a loud scream from in the cat carrier on her desk.

"Please cease your screaming Tony, I had just gotten used to hearing again." As Abby attempted to calm Tony down (She opened the cat carrier first, having realized that they were obviously in their right minds), she looked over at the other carrier and blinked.

"Z-Ziva?!" Not just Ziva. But, standing beside her with a neutral smile was Kira.

Said girl nodded, her arms crossed. "Indeed. Really, Abby-neesan, you shouldn't be surprised at this- Even in the game that was played by Shiro, 'ottsels' were more human than animal in mind. In fact.." The smile got rather frightening.. "..They were worshiped as gods in that game, without anyone even knowing their true form until the end."

Ziva looked down at Kira from her position on top of the cat carrier, blinking before shaking her head. "Either way... What's done is done. If Tony would calm down, then Abby might be able to find out how to reverse this."

Tony, who had been standing outside the carrier, looked over at Ziva with wide eyes. He then spoke, with an oddly solid deadpan on his face. "I just woke up after cornering a kidnapper to find myself two feet tall and covered with fur." As anger, confusion, and general sarcasm re-entered his face, Ziva plugged her ears. "How can you be so calm about all this!?!" A dumpling as promptly shoved into his mouth.

"Simple. She is not one to allow something so trivial to pull her down, and more importantly she has slept and eaten. Now eat, you are likely quite hungry after your near 10 hour sleep." A muffled grumble was Kira's response, and Abby scratched her head at the sight before her. Getting work done might take a while but... At least her friends were still themselves. In spirit and mind at least.

Back upstairs, where the rest of the team was unaware of what was occuring in Abby's lab, Director Vance was watching McGee's reaction to what he had said with mild amusement (You really got a kick out of reactions after awhile, no matter how asshol-ish it was). "They have to... 'Die'?"

Beside him, with a similar expression on his face, was a young japanese man who had been asked to fill in for Tony, Nikki taking Ziva's place for the moment. "Hah... So then, whatever happened to Tony and Ziva is... Permanent?" The man adjusted his glasses, sitting down in his chair with a frown. "But.. Even if they don't have human bodies anymore, I doubt they'll agree to this... To tell even their closest relatives they are dead, when in reality..." An uneasy silence set in, the other two agents nodding, briefly noting the lack of response from their boss.

Vance looked over to where Gibbs was sitting, the man currently staring at a small badge with a speaker in it, as though attempting to force it to speak. "Hmp. It's not like you to be this quiet Gibbs. You still believe that I've made the wrong decision then?" There was no way of reversing what happened, and even if they were still in their right mind, such a thing would gain far too much press and attention. No one could know- Not even the rest of NCIS and Mossad.

Gibbs didn't answer. Rather, twisting one of the dials on the badge, spoke directly to it. "Mind telling me where the hell you two are?" The others blinked, looking over as Gibbs continued to stare at the badge with an iron glare. Now to see if Kiyoiri was right about this badge thing...

Muttering could be heard from the other end- Ah. So the dial was the volume then. "Shit. I thought you told me that they couldn't reach this far Megane!" Koji (As one could tell after the word 'Megane' was spoken), seemed a bit nervous... And jittery even. Of course, it was likely he'd been up for almost 24 hours... So maybe this was his way of dealing with the exaustion?

Another voice sighed. "I said that while unlikely, Hakase might have done something to them... I also said _leave them off in case they try that_!" Unlike his friend, Conan seemed rather calm... If not a bit more agitated than usual. So a tired Conan was easilly POed then. Keep that in mind.

"Well, how the heck was I supposed to know they would reach us here!"

"We didn't. That's why the badge was supposed to be off!"

As the argument continued, Gibbs for some odd reason not interupting, the japanese agent from the side blinked. "That voice..." Heading over towards Gibbs (Who was still glaring, as though hoping the technology could somehow transfer the image across to the two boys), he frowned. "That sounds like C-"

-CLUNK- McGee looked down at where the temp. agent fell, having tripped over the chair he'd pushed to the side. "....Are you alright Eisuke?"

"I'm... Fine..." Eisuke stood up, walking over behind Gibbs and looking at the badge. "More importantly..." A loud roaring sound came over the badge, those in the area wincing or covering their ears. "A-A plane!?!"

A few kilometers away, in the storage hold of a plane, Koji looked over at Conan and slowly turned the badge off and put it down. "Ahaha.. Well, they don't know where we're headed ah?"

"Hah..." Maybe if they were lucky, McGee wouldn't realize that their plane was the only one leaving at the moment...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------

AUUUUUUGGGGHH I'm so sorry.... ;;;A;;; I got all those reviews and.. And even a few watches! And yet, I still couldn't get this done until now! Aaaaahhh.... Thank you so much for your reviews everyone... ;;3;;

*cough* I'd tell you why it took so long but... That would be like whining, and I don't like that. This chapter seems a bit off too me... But it might be because one half was written waaaaaaayy back before freaking July (D'OH), and the other half was written later today. Ahahahaahaaaa... *cough* In anycase, the next chapter should be done soon, depending on whatever goes on. Also, while I am going to be working on 'Feet In Sand' at the same time, 'Oceans of Red' will not be worked on for a while, as my Zelda muse is being turned towards other more important things (Like my 3D animation homework... TTATT ). But hey! At least I'll be getting this one done! :D Until then, keep on reading!

- Usagi


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: TAIGAHS ON A PLANE**

"They're WHERE?!"

Heiji raised his hands in a pseudo defense against the raging woman that was Ran. Why the hell did he have to be the one to bring this kind of news? "Hey hey... C-calm down alright, they're heading over to meet them right now!"

Ran glared at Heiji, as one might stare down a rival. "...Heiji... I was told that they were safe with Ziva-san and Tony-san... But just now, you've told me that not only are both of them dead, but that Conan-kun and Koji-kun have somehow managed to catch a plane to Tokyo, with the impression that they might find the people who did so!"

"'Neechan.."

"For all I know, they're missing, lost or.. Or.."

Heiji's brow twitched, before he grabbed Ran's arm. "Hey! 'Neechan." He let her collapse into one of the chairs in the room they were in."Calm down. Freakin' out over this isn't going to help things." Man... "...'Neechan... You're really close to K...Conan-kun ah?" Of all times for the ahou to leave though! And without telling him at that, really...

There was silence, but a loud sound of disgruntlement took their attention towards the door. Eisuke stood up slowly, looking at his now coke covered shirt with dismay, before looking at the tear covered Ran and deadpanning Heiji. "Eh? Did I miss something?"

"E-Eisuke..?" The teen walked over, rubbing the back of his head as he sat down.

"Ahaha.. Y-Yea, you see, after I moved here, I took quite a few extra classes, and night classes, summer classes..." He started counting them on his fingers as Heiji jumped out of his chair.

"That doesn't explain why the government hired you at 18! We're the same age, this shouldn't even be possible!"

Eisuke rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Ahaha... W-Well..."

Thankfully, it seemed that Ran's next comment would move the conversation elsewhere. "Eisuke-kun... Did you come in here to tell us something about Conan-kun and the others?" The director _had_ said that he would send someone in with an update on the situation when he could.

"Ah." Eisuke nodded, before continuing. "Gibbs, as well as two others are leaving for Tokyo right now, where they traced the badges they had... However, I don't have anything more than that... Sorry." Watching as Ran gained a defeated look on her face, Eisuke chose to leave the room. Lying to her like that... He didn't like that, especially after the conversation in Abby's lab earlier that morning- How weird, to think that a poison could turn humans into things like that now. But either way, this was his new job it seemed- Not the CIA, but it was a damn good job for someone his age. These disadvantages though... "Hah.... Couldn't Nikki have been the one to talk to them?"

***********************************************************

"I can't believe you left that thing on..." Conan's voice, though echoing slightly against the metal walls, was more than ticked to say the least. He held the badge that Koji had in his hands, and had clicked the communicator off- There was sadly no way to get rid of the tracking device without crushing it, and really, since they could easily drop it once the plane trip was over, and the trip itself was likely the thing being tracked, there was no issue with that. But the fact that it was on..

Koji scowled, crossing his arms. "Tch! How the hell was I supposed to know the battery would last that long?!" Sad excuse, he knew. He had actually taken the badge because Kiyoiri insisted on it... And he'd rather take that than get her upset, but he swore he'd turned the thing off!

The storage hold of the plane they were on was rather cramped to say the least. And, as there was really no point in it, there were no lights at the moment. The only one who could see at all was Koji, and even then it was difficult, as there were next to no sources of light in the room. Said boy leaned back, his long hair covering most of his face as he blew a few annoying strands off of his mouth.

Silence settled into the area, the two boys simply lying on their backs, bags beneath them as the plane set off into the sky. A few yowling cats in carriers could be heard, but other than that, nothing but breathing. Finally, Conan spoke. "Oi, Hisoka... You're sure it's in here right?" He didn't have too much of a reason to not trust the boy's nose but.. The org didn't exactly have much reason to be using a normal plane to transport their equipment either. It could be a ruse... But how would they know that Koji and himself would follow them with that?

His friend merely nodded. "Yea. I don't forget a smell, contrary to what you might think. The scent on these bags here is the same as the woman from NCIS." Not like his nose was as bad as his memory for names was... ...Wait, something seemed off about that thought.

Conan grunted, a finger on his chin as he thought. Hnn.. Maybe he should have let Hattori know about this, he was probably stewing about how he'd been left out... But really, how the hell was he supposed to explain that Koji (Who was once the man that attempted to kill him) was another victim of APTX, along with some other poison that granted total immortality and a slightly annoying shifting ability between human and random animal, therefore allowing him to smell out the bag they needed to be beside. Not to mention that he himself, thanks to the ingestion of that same poison, would not only be able to become Shinichi ever (Not that he minded anymore), but could now fly. Yea. That would make a _lovely_ conversation with Hattori.

Funny, how he had more control over his own 'other half' than the one who had one for almost two years. In any case... He looked at his watch, which, with the flick of a switch on the side, illuminated the area he and Koji sat in. Hm... Five minutes into a 12 hour flight, going over eleven timezones... It was going to be a long-

"FFFFFFFF Megane! Turn that thing off, you're blinding me!" Another click as Conan gave a deadpan look to Koji, who was curled up in a ball as though on fire. "Jesus, I just got used to the darkness..." While Conan sighed and leaned back to stare at the ceiling, Koji shifted his position slightly and fell asleep. "....snnnnnngggg...."

He snored. Huh. Rubbing his forehead, he sighed yet again. Correction. This was going to be a _very _long flight... Even IF they took and hour off for each timezone they covered. "Hnnnnggg...."

***********************************************************

Back in the US, Heiji stood in the ticket line of the airport in Washington. "Hahh.... This line up takes too long..." The teen crossed his arms, mentally counting how much time he had. It would take twelve hours to get to where Conan was, but by the time both of them reached the destination, it would be as though only an hour of time had passed- In any case, it was three hours since they caught that flight. So, he would be three hours behind Conan. He could track him thanks to the spare glasses he had in his pocket (It had been fairly simple for McGee to put together an identical tracker on his laptop for the NCIS team on their way NOW.), but that was only if Conan didn't dump the badge.

Which, given what he thought now, the ahou likely would. Damn it. Sighing again, he felt a tug on his shirt and frowned. "Heh?"

"Neh, Onii-chan..."

"Gyah!" Heiji jumped back, before scowling down at the two small girls in front of him. "O-Oii! Don't sneak up on people, Ku-... Co-... Kiyu... Kiya..."

Kiyoiri frowned, wide eyes staring up with annoyance. "It's Kiyoiri! Matsuda Kiyoiri!!"

Beside her, Kira merely smiled slightly and spoke with her usual impassive tone. "Really, Kiyoiri-chan... It's only natural he would be unable to remember the name, with his skull as empty as it is..."

"What!?!" Heiji went red, before a rather ticked woman at the desk in front of him called his attention.

"Excuse me sir! I have been calling you for a while now, please move forwards or leave the line!" The Osakan blinked, looking in front of him to see that the line had, some how, increased in speed in the few seconds he was speaking (Read 'yelling') with the two girls.

Walking forwards, he pulled out his wallet only for a sleeved hand to come from beside him and slam a fairly large sum of money on the table. "Three tickets to Tokyo please."

"Oi, I seriously doubt Abby and 'Neechan approved of this-" Heiji was quickly cut off by the same sleeve.

"Abby-neesan was told by Luo-Mei-neesan, my guardian, that I would be returning to Tokyo today. Kiyoiri as well, was mentioned to be coming with me for safety. Ran-neesan however, is remaining here for any news from NCIS." Kira had it covered it would seem. Kiyoiri understood this in fact, and was nodding with certainty as the woman at the desk handed Heiji three tickets.

Heiji sighed. Great... He was stuck with two actual kids... As he set off with them for the gate to their plane, he mentally added something else to this.

Not only was he stuck with two kids... He was stuck with the creepily adult-like one in a straitjacket, as well as the one identical in appearance to Kudo. Damn him and his luck...

These thoughts persisted well into the plane trip to Tokyo, especially when he received a flustered call from Ran on the plane phone, asking where Kiyoiri and Kira were. He should have taken that owamori with him to the states...

***********************************************************

It was fairly late when the plane landed- 9:00 PM. Conan and Koji sat quietly in one of the suitcases that they had, against Conan's conscience, emptied to hide in, before hopping out in the baggage area when Koji could no longer smell anyone. They were both silent, but a nod to each other and they were on their way to doing what they had come for. Leaving the baggage area into the main building of the airport, they merged into the crowded building easily. Quickly and quietly, they located the luggage that Koji had identified as Black Organization member 'Madeira's, the pair keeping close to the bags and watching for someone to grab them.

"Oi... Megane.." Conan turned as Koji spoke, nodding for him to continue. He seemed nervous... Or at least annoyed in any case. "We need to hurry..." He sniffed, frowning slightly.

Beside him, Conan frowned as well. "Hurry... We can't go any faster than Madeira.. And even then, we'll only get to her main base as fast as she does neh?" His frown deepened at Koji's response, the taller one sniffing frantically in the fashion one might use with a severe sinus cold.

"Megane... I'm starting to lose the scent..." Conan jerked his head up at this, studying Koji's pale face as the boy turned left and right, attempting to scent out the bags and Madeira

Shit.. Not good! He turned back to the sea of people around them, swarming the chairs that he and Koji stood on to see over them. Koji, thankfully, had his hair somehow tucked in a hat to prevent being noticed- Conan in the meantime, used the pigment from his 'teratorn' half to dye his hair black and eyes brown. Eyes that were now, as they scanned the crowd about them, were that of an eagle's ancestor. Where... Where...

There was a woman with black hair and a violet cap.. Not her. Another woman, shades and brown hair, not her. Where... Where was she!? Koji continued sniffing, before finally turning swiftly towards the far off carousel of luggage and grabbing Conan's shoulder. "Megane!! Megane, over there!"

He turned. He could see her so clearly... Without another spoken word, both boys had hopped down, charging in through the crowd, pinpointing the woman and watching as she wove through the people around them. Watching as she turned one corner, another... Through the door, on to the subway...

"Iye!" The pair dived forwards, attempting to make it but ah-

The pair watched as the subway pulled out at high speed, already at its 120% capacity level it seemed. "KUSO!" Koji pounded a fist at the wall, Conan merely staring into space as the next subway came on and they boarded it. The two stood in a crammed silence for a while, before getting off at a nearby stop. Leaving the station, the two looked around, Conan staring at the sky and Koji following soon after. "Damn it... Megane... What do you think we do now?" No scent, no sight... Not even a hint of the location- Last he checked, Madeira was from Section F, and if she was heading there, it would have made much more sense to take a plane to Yokohama.

Conan remained silent, simply staring at the stars. "..." Nothing. He had... Nothing. They'd lost Madeira, and unless they could see her from above then- "...Hisoka... Cover me."

"Eh!?" Koji watched as Conan rushed behind a set of planted bushes, his sensitive ears picking up the boy's words again. "Cover you!? For wha-" A small 'thunk' noise cut him off, and, walking over, Koji noted that Conan's shoes were on the ground. "Oi oi, don't tell me..." A blur of black flew past his face, nearly grazing his nose before Koji looked up towards where said blur landed.

"_Caw!_" Ahahaha. How appropriate. He compressed himself into a crow... As Koji gathered Conan's things into his bag, he couldn't help but scowl. Damn it, why couldn't he do that!?! He barely had the time to sling the bag over his shoulder before the crow/Conan cawed again and took off upwards.

"Hm. Suits him..." Keeping Conan's current scent in his mind, he proceeded to jog off into the night, to where ever Conan might lead him...

Which, to their later dismay, would not turn out to be another of the Organization's bases. But really, as Conan mysteriously found himself shot down and landing rather painfully on a window sill, it wasn't his fault. Especially since you really can't control small boy's and their odd affinity for attempting to shoot birds down with BB guns. Really. You can't.

"Oi! Megane!" Groaning in pain, Conan lifted his head to look down at Koji, the latter whispering harshly so that he could be heard without waking those in the area. He'd had to hop a few fences to get over here... He hoped no one woke up at all. "Megane, you alright?"

Weakly getting to his feet, Conan chose to give a slight 'caw' back, signaling that he was fine- It had to be asked at least though. After all, thanks to the APTX, the drug for immortality hadn't completely set yet... So, if he were to be shot, there was a chance he would still be injured, at least slightly, for more than a few days. The events in May were more than proof of that...

As Conan prepared to take off again however, he noticed that Koji had suddenly tensed up. What... Now what on earth could that be for..? As the one on the ground suddenly jumped into a bush however, he found himself picked up by a rather small hand, and before he could peck his way out, his eyes caught sight of something fairly odd- The hand that had him wasn't special really, aside from its oddly pale complexion. And neither was the voice that was worriedly and rhetorically wondering what was wrong with him... Which was nothing by this point.

Rather, it was the small, scarcely shorter than his current form boy in front of him, dressed in old, traditional clothes with a beetle cap, holding a small katana to him. "Hey hey hey," the small boy spoke, eyes narrowed. "Mind tellin' me who you are, yah bird-impostor?" That knife was dangerously close to his neck, something even Koji noticed from down in the bushes.

Well this complicated things...

***********************************************************

AN - Phwa~ The chapter is done! This one was the hardest- It's the only one that wasn't even partially planned out. D: This is one of the most loosely planned fics I have...

For those waiting for Feet In Sand, please forgive me! There was an error with the file I saved the WIP chapter on... |D So I've been typing it back out from scratch... (That one too, is also unplanned.) But on the bright side, it's here! And, after this, things should only get better! Right? Right?

.....^=^;; *In any case, as I said before, this fic is very short compared to it's predecessor, since it takes place over a span of a few days. In fact, we are already about halfway I think!*

Please enjoy!


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: The Second Gamer Is... Amaterasu Reborn??**

It was an interesting sight, Koji told himself as he looked up the the window that Conan, a young girl with white and red hair, and some other thing that he couldn't quite see stood. Conan gulped, looking down from where he was held to study the small 'person' that was in front of him, that Koji wouldn't likely be able to see unless he stood right there.

The girl's voice was not helping his current feeling of dread. "Issun!" She glared at the tiny boy, Issun it seemed (Hahaha... Just like 'Issun Bochi'..), and continued. "It's just a bird! The idiot next door probably tried hitting things with that stupid gun of his again!" Conan winced, which Issun seemed to do as well- She was loud...

The small thing, 'Issun', scowled, sheathing the sword into a small belt that Conan could only just see. "Fine! But if it's a normal bird, then why does it look more like some kind of miniature condor? And wouldn't a normal bird be struggling right now!?!"

Conan mentally paled- Whoops. However, it was a bit to late for that it seemed, as the girl pulled him inside with Issun and closed the window. There went that escape... "It's injured," she stated plainly, "Now come on, we need to get something to fix his wing, it's probably broken from that fall." Placing Conan on a pillow in the room (Which appeared to be your typical young girl's room), she bent down to grab Issun and left. "You stay right there birdy, ok?"

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Conan frowned as much as a bird's face would allow. This... Was a problem. Not counting the oddness that the girl displayed in terms of appearance (Normal people were not completely white with red eyes and markings), and the general impossibility of Issun, he was now rather stuck. If he shifted back to open the window and the girl returned, it would be rather difficult to explain how a naked boy her age got in there... Not to mention, it would likely ruin any reputation he had in Ekoda.

However, he couldn't very well just sit here while Koji's trail went cold. Suddenly however, he had an entirely new reason to be worried. In the distance, he could barely hear it, but was that a doorbell-

"_Who could it be this late..._" That would be the girl... He flitted over closer to the door of the room, in an attempt to listen more closely. "_Oh! Hello Koji-kun!_" He almost fell over at that one, even more so when he heard the response.

"_Ah.. Yea. Yea, um... Can I come in, Karin-chan...?_" What the- How did those two know each other? He knew that Ekoda and Beika were right beside each other, but Koji scarcely ever left the house except to... Mentally, he smacked himself in the head. Except to visit Kiyori. Who, in the scheme of things, lived in a location that required a dip into Ekoda to visit. But either way, he seriously doubted that Koji would get close to anyon-

"_Go right ahead, Koji-kun. In fact, could you help me with something? I found an injured bird in my window..._" As steps were made towards the room, Conan quickly stowed away back to the place he'd been sitting before the door opened up and the two walked inside. "So, Koji-kun.. What brings you over so late anyways?"

The boy shrugged, taking a seat on the bed that Conan was on. "Nothing much.. Just came back from the states and wanted to talk..."

She frowned. "Talk? What about? Couldn't it wait until tomorrow?" The boy in front of her shook his head, and Karin sighed. "Alright then... What is it you wanted to talk about?"

Koji was silent for a bit, crossing his arms. "You beta-tested the Cocoon with Shiro, right?" He received a nervous nod, and sighed. That explained the hair hopefully.. Though how she was getting away with that in school was beyond him. "Right... How about a trade in secrets then? I know for a fact that there's more than just us two and the bird in this room... But while I'm sure you've got your skeletons to hide, you'll want a few of mine too."

"...What on earth are you talking about..."

Issun's voice cleared up that particular question, and Conan's own suspicions were proven. "He can see your true form Karin! And hear me too! I don't know how though, normal humans aren't able to do that.." Karin looked over at Issun, who appeared from on top of head from under a clump of white hair. "Look at his eyes too, they were green to start, but they're blue now!"

Koji kept a fairly impassive face through all this, and merely nudged Conan in response. "Oi, aren't you going to say something as well?" He received a look that said 'I'm supposed to be a normal bird- I think I prefer making you look like an idiot anyways.' Glaring, Koji 'tapped' the 'crow's head in response, almost losing his finger in the process. "Fine, be that way!"

".....Look, I don't have time for this Koji-kun, I'm tired, and I have to go out somewhere tomorrow and.." Karin held her hands in front of her face, trying to figure out just how to get the boy out of her house right after she'd let him in. ".....If I tell you 'yes' about the beta test, will you leave?"

There was a bit of silence, and both Koji and Conan turned to Karin with deadpan stares. "Hnn... No. I won't. The white hair was a dead giveaway any ways."

"You can see that!?" Karin's eyes widened with shock, and Issun jumped down to her shoulder.

The tiny boy shook his head. "I told'ya Karin! I told you he could see it! Everyone else might not see the colour change, but anything inhuman can!"

Koji bristled at the comment. "Tch! I'm still human, little bug!"

"It ain't bug! It's Issun! Get it right!!" Issun glowed a few interesting colours, but they froze back at green when an odd laughing/cawing sound caught their ears.

"Kehehecw... Kehshshsh...!" The crow was covering his head with one wing, trembling as the others stared. In the end however, he coughed. "Ah... Well, seeing how we're going to be working together if what's going on... I'm Edogawa Conan." He waved a wing, ignoring the odd stare that Karin was giving him. "Nice to meet you neh?"

The girl swallowed, before nodding. "Y-Yea.. It is..." Ignoring the fact that a large crow/small raven was talking to her...

Smiling with his eyes, he waited a bit to break the silence that resulted. "So.. Could I borrow the washroom to put my clothes back on then?"

While Conan was busy in the washroom, Koji and Karin stared at each other with differing expressions. Koji appeared rather impassive, possibly slightly annoyed even. Karin however was clearly tense, as though clearly outnumbered in a fight. Eventually, it was Karin who spoke. "...Koji-kun.. How did you know that this," she motioned to her hair, which through Koji's green eyes was completely black again, "Was a result of the cocoon game?"

"Well, we met the other tester earlier for one- Shiro-kun. And while I can't say much for his appearance, whatever's in his blood that came out of the game did an awful lot to cause trouble overseas." He paused, taking in a deep breath and turning his head to look at the ceiling before he continued. "The markings you had.. Have, I guess, match the ones on the main character of 'Okami', and while I'm not sure how he's here, Issun just solidifies that guess. So I'm assuming you brought in that game to use with the system."

Koji received a nod in response to this statement. "That's right..." Karin crossed her arms and sighed, while Issun merely stared from his position on Karin's shoulder. "When we went to do the beta testing for the cocoon, we were told to bring a favorite game of ours.. But when we started it, something went wrong..."

"Reversal." The two looked towards Conan as he spoke, backpack and glasses in his hands as he walked into the room.

"E-Ehh! You look just like-"

Conan nodded, smiling. "Kiyoiri-chan? Yea.. She's.. She's my second cousin."

Karin blinked. "But I thought..."

Beside her, Koji waved a hand. "I'm related on her mother's side- Megane and I aren't related in any way." And, he thought to himself, as long as he could, he would keep the back story like that.

Conan took a seat on the bed, replacing the glasses as he continued. "When you and Shiro-kun started the game, Shindou-oji couldn't get you out, could he?" Seeing a look of slight shock from Karin, he continued. "So, managing to at least give you this warning, you and Shiro went through the game from start to finish, without dying once. I'm not sure where 'Issun' plays into all this... But if I'm right, that's why your hair and eyes changed." The boy frowned after he said this, and went on. "Although.. Now that I'm back to normal myself, it looks as though you're just a normal person- Did you have brown eyes and black hair before starting the beta test?"

She nodded. "Issun was... My partner in the game- However near the end.." She was interrupted as Koji spoke.

"Yea, I was wondering about that... At the end of 'Okami', Amaterasu separates from Issun for the final boss... And they don't reunite."

While Koji was questioning Karin, Conan sent a questioning glance towards the boy beside him. "....You played Okami?"

"I... I was watching Kiyoiri play it!"

"Ah... I don't think Kiyoiri-chan knew what the game was, since when I came in, she was asking an awful lot about it.." Behind that innocent look was the face of the devil Koji told himself...

Scowling, the boy crossed his arms. "We don't have time for this- Let's get to the point. Shiro's blood was used to kill three people, and he's been kidnapped to drain him of still more. Like Megane, I can turn into something other than a human... Which seems to help quite a bit here. We're going to go get him... So for now, forgive us for intruding, ok?"

"Ki-Kidnapped...?" Karin went rather pale, frowning. "You... You can't be serious, who would.. How did they..."

The room fell silent, until Issun spoke up. "If you two kids are goin' after whoever took Kuroi-kun, then count me in... Nothing can beat the great Issun!"

While Conan looked rather skeptical, Koji nodded. As the former sent a glance that said 'HUH?' towards the latter, he spoke. "...Karin-chan... Do you want to come along as well at all?" Catching both Karin and Conan's incredulous stares, he sighed. "If you gained the same abilities as Amaterasu in the game, I'm pretty sure you'd be able to help..."

"I refuse." The stares of the others didn't change, and Karin crossed her arms to stare at the floor. "I won't go... I..." The girl turned her back to them, becoming silent.

Koji merely shrugged, heading towards the door. "Whatever you say... In that case, if we aren't back by morning, don't expect us to be alive, alright? Just a warning." Jerking a head over to the window, Conan blinked. "I solidified Shiro's scent trail... He's come here often enough to leave a trace, and while I'm not too sure why, the trail only gets easier to track from here." He had a feeling he knew why but... Ehh, no time for paranoia unfortunately. 'Sides, how would anyone know he could...

Beside him, Conan nodded, and a split second later disappeared out the window. Koji as well, left, and once the room was devoid of guests, Issun spoke. "...Yah know... I'd have thought you braver than this, seein' how you pulled me in to that ship and STILL beat Yami..." The poncle was answered with silence, and he sighed. "I'm takin' the Lucky Mallet..." He hopped out of the window to join the two who were waiting for him, the room falling silent once more.

As the moonlight filtered through the window, Karin listened dully as the people who brought her such grave news left. In her position on the bed, she felt numb... She should sleep, she had that camping trip tomorrow, she'd promised Shiro she'd bring back-

In the light of the moon, Karin turned to face the still open window with a face set with determination. "...Shiro-kun...

"...Don't hate me for what I am about to do."

AN - Reader-san... Don't hate me for being late... -brickedbrickedbricked-

I've probably dug my grave deep enough with my lates ANYWAYS, so really... I should expect as much for this. Shorter chapter than most, and here's why. I DO know exactly what's happening next. In fact, it's already typed up.

But it works soooo much better with the next chapter seriously. And you will realize why much much later. Unfortunately. Because the chances of the next chapter coming out within the week are.. Really.. Really... small. T_T

On a side note, Conan and Koji have this relative stuff aaaaall figured out. Relation issues are made because A) Kiyoiri, being an altered clone of Conan, not to mention being the 'daughter' of an actual relative (Hence the use of Conan's DNA), is someone who you can't really chalk up to coincidence. Even Conan had to claim a relation to himself. Which... Kinda made me laugh actually.

Koji on the other hand, was handed his 'new identity' by Shindou's now dead wife, Tenshi, under the cover of her nephew. This makes him, in his own coverstory, Kiyoiri's cousin... On her 'mother's side. So, keeping this up, Koji and Conan are 'related' to Kiyoiri, but (For their brain's sake) not to each other. Hope that clears a few things up.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Rapunzel's Trail**

As Koji picked up yet another white-blond hair, Conan had to frown. It was obvious that Shiro had somehow managed to wake up, and was setting a trail... But why would he lay such a horrible one, and why wait until Ekoda? Watching as the boy in front of him continued sniffing, he pondered this, until Issun, on his shoulder, spoke. "These hairs... They're Shiro's aren't they?"

"Yea.." Koji started walking again, motioning for the other two to follow. "Come on, this way." Things were relatively silent on the trail. The only noise made after those words was the sound of footsteps, and the adjusting of Conan's spare glasses. Disguise purposes only granted- These ones didn't have the tracker in them... And the ones that did have them were still with NCIS. Continuing on the walk into the darkness, the thoughts of suspicion increased just slightly... One from paranoia, one from curiosity... And one who already knew.

***************************************************************

Back at NCIS, Director Vance was dealing with his own issues on suspicion. Standing in MTAC with two rather familiar faces before him, he moved the toothpick in his mouth to his hands before speaking. "Now... You and I both know how much we hate to talk like this I bet..."

"'I bet' doesn't even cut it Vance, it's 2 in the morning!" Director Roper of the CIA did not look pleased on his webcam screen. Neither did the one on the screen beside him, from the FBI.

Before either could speak anymore however, Vance continued. "Well, maybe if both of you decided to fill me in on this long term case you've been working on, I wouldn't have to call this early!" The toothpick was returned to his mouth. "From what I can tell, you two have been sending your people in this fairly deep- And now that you've failed to notify us of even a small bit, I'm stuck sending a team into the unknown."

The director of the FBI was next to speak. "Care to explain just what you're talking about then?"

Vance almost smiled. "The 'Black Organization.'" Seeing the blank looks on the faces of the two before him, the man went on. "The Director of the Mossad as well, likely has a few words for you on this, for while Ms. David may no longer work with the Mossad, she is still his daughter- and had we known just what this mess was, his daughter would not currently be in our autopsy lab!" As his gaze intensified, the few others in the room looked towards him, almost waiting for what would come next.

"Now lucky for us, he knows full well there was a risk of her death while on the job here. Especially now that it recently became a permanent career for her. But I would much prefer to keep the death toll where it is Directors- And to do that, you're going to need to fill me in. Starting from the beginning!"

***************************************************************

-neeeeehhhrooooooooosssh-

As the plane landed on the base outside of Tokyo, McGee fought the urge to puke as his boss yawned and stretched from across him. Rather green, he looked beside him at the two now much shorter partners he'd worked with for the past few years, scarcely able to speak. "Is... Does he always.. Do this?"

The two didn't even bat an eye as they nodded- Tony especially quickly, having said the same thing to someone else... Now that he thought about it, what would SHE have done if it were her instead of Ziva? ...Probably freak out more than he had to start, and then somehow calm down quicker than himself. ...It was a numb feeling he got, thinking about her. Though he'd rather not think of her at that moment. At the moment, he merely busied himself with getting out of the hurriedly altered harness used to hold himself and Ziva down on the trip- If he didn't like these planes before...

While Tony became lost in thought, Ziva climbed up on a ledge near the area the plane landed in, watching as McGee fiddled with the tracking device on the laptop and frowned. "...Something is wrong, McGee?" The 'ottsel' (She had gotten used to the term amazingly quick) brushed some hair behind her head, leaning around McGee's arm for a better look. The tracer had stopped, then began moving.. Burst off at high speed, stopped, slowed down to a snail's pace, and then rocketed off again. "Perhaps the laptop is broken?" It certainly seemed like it.

But instead, she received a tense nod 'no'. "It's not broken... Whatever the boys are doing they're moving at this actual speed.. I can't figure out what they're doing though, it's been going on for the past ten minutes.." Ziva took it upon herself to hop onto McGee's arm to take a better look, examining the tracer's movements with narrowed eyes. "H-Hey, Ziva-"

"Hn!" A small furred finger was held up, and the man holding the laptop fell silent. These movements... They seemed familiar somewhat, but how... They were stopping often... But not for long... After stopping, they would slow down, as if searching for something, only to pick up again...

Searching... "They're tracking Shiro's captors."

McGee looked down, startled. "Tracking? But how?"

"Most likely with an animal, a dog perhaps- But they are definitely tracking something."

As McGee kept this in mind, a voice from behind caught his attention. "Come on, we're leaving now."

Hurriedly slamming his laptop shut as Ziva hopped off his arm, the man jogged after the speed-walking Gibbs towards the car- Only just recently there. As he did so, Ziva stopped momentarily to tug Tony's arm, the ottsel having been staring into space for some odd reason. "Tony!"

"Uh, what?"

Before Ziva could answer, Gibbs continued what he had been saying before. "We're meeting up with the FBI in Beika- Get moving, DiNozzo."

The addressed blinked, before doing as he was told. "Right.." Geeze.. He shouldn't be spacing out like that, honestly...

Wait, did Gibbs say 'FBI'?

***************************************************************

There were no clouds in the night sky as they came from Ekoda into Domino. The tracking went quickly, as much as it could at least, and in addition to this remained mostly silent. At this particular moment however, a sudden rumble pierced the air, and both Issun and Conan looked over at the guilty source of the sound, deadpanned. "....Hisoka..."

Said source merely looked at the two with half-lidded eyes. "We need to get food.." And thus, a conversation was sparked as the long haired boy headed further down the trail to a location familiar only to himself and Issun.

"We?! You're the only one who didn't eat!"

"Well, I DID ask if I could have one of those sandwiches Megane..."

Conan scowled, shifting the weight of his backpack. "You're leaving out that once I mentioned they were old you refused them."

"Yea, well, I like FRESH food thanks."

"Come on, it wasn't moldy or rotten! The bread was only slightly stale Hisoka, isn't that just a bit picky?"

This was answered with silence as Koji decided to busy himself with charging up to the building they were approaching and looking for a key.

"Tch..." He shook his head. Man, of all things to complain about... Waiting for Koji to find the way in, Conan took the time to examine the building the trail passed by with a slightly more perceptive eye. He had never actually seen Shindou's new store- Video games didn't very much interest him, who was really more of a 'book kid'. Not that anyone had ever argued that particular fact.

However, it quickly came to his attention that the man Shindou had been helping with for the last months of his life(Most likely the reason for the hire) was not only the cause for alarm on the news when 'Duel Monsters Champion Motou Yugi' dropped out of a tournament to attend a funeral, but that the game shop that Shindou had been given was also recently prominent in news as well. Thankfully, Shindou managed to avoid the camera himself with the statement of being camera shy but... The boy's eyes skimmed over the rounded building, eventually falling on the small, turtle shaped sign in the front. "Kame Game..."

A loud click noise tore his attention back to the store's door, Koji having taken too long looking for the key, causing Issun to finally jump up to the only door without security. Leaping inside the lock, he easily sliced the mechanism to bits from the inside, the door swinging open as both Conan and Koji looked at the other and mentally shrugged. That worked...

Walking inside, Conan idly followed behind the other two to take in the musty, shadowed surroundings. Shindou had left a few weeks ago for a trip- The store was going to be closed until he came back, which was likely going to be the end of summer. Depending on whether or not he was questioned on the cocoon at least...

Shelves lined with board games and video games alike stood on either side of the group as they walked into the store. At the front, a class counter filled with neat rows of duel monsters cards shone, Koji ducking under a small flap that separated the front from the back. Following the boy's lead, Issun and Conan soon found themselves passing not only the counter but also a staircase, heading for a row of curtains covering the back room. Odd.. The was a staircase right there, why not take that... "Oi, Hisoka-"

"That door leads to a separate part of the house- There are two entrances. That one leads to Shindou's bedroom but..." He ducked under the curtains, his voice fading slightly as Conan made to follow. "The kitchen is connected to the door down here."

Once past the curtains, the difference between the front and back were... Shocking to say the least. Cables of all sizes grouped together, creating a messy web across the floor and even the walls. Smaller ones came from seemingly no where in the room, a mass seen connecting to a computer at the side. Those smaller ones grouped into larger ones, those ones doing the same to become a pair of two enormous, metal tubes connecting to the first thing that caught his eyes when he entered the room. The cocoons. Sitting in the center, the moonlight from the lonely window to the side created an eerie, untouched feeling around it. As Koji passed them without a second glance, busying himself with the lock, Conan found himself staring at them as he drew close.

"Old memories?" The boy looked to the side at Issun, who sat on top of the closest metal cable crosslegged.

Conan merely blinked. "Ah... You could say that I suppose.. Myself, along with 48 others were the first people to ever test the original Cocoon... It brings up interesting memories." Which reminded him.. "Issun..." The poncle looked up at him, and he continued. "You came from... Inside the game right?"

He nodded. "From what I can tell yea. Went through it myself at Karin's house... All a bit disconcerting if yah ask me... Finding out my entire life and memories came from this thing.." He tapped the bottom of the cables he sat on, as though to emphasize this. Silence settled after that, Issun briefly looking towards the still busy Koji before turning back. "Yah know... We've got enough time for me to explain it all if you want..."

"..." Well... He did want to know... And while they were pressed for time, Koji was not giving up his position at the door any time soon. "...That would be good, yes."

With that, Issun started to re-tell his tale in a fashion only the storytelling poncles of the mountains were able to.

***************************************************************

_In my memories, there is a legend for our world, the land of Nippon... Which, now that I realize it, is a direct reference to this country as the rest of our world's inhabitants and legends were. In the village of Kaminki, where a wood sprite named Sakuya resides, there is in particular one story from this legend that stands out. The tale of Orochi. It was said that the eight headed snake was slain by Nagi, who rose up to face the demon in order to save Nami, the woman he loved, from being sacrificed. However, Nagi alone had not been enough._

_In addition to Nagi, there was a white wolf that locals named 'Shiranui'. The wolf died in order to save Nagi, and allow him to seal the demon away. In the wolf's honor, a small shrine with its stone image was placed beside Sakuya's tree. And 100 years after this... The game itself began. The world was thrown into chaos with a broken seal, and Sakuya, weakened as she tried to protect the village, used her power to revive 'Shiranui'- The white wolf who was truly known as 'Amaterasu'._

_Shortly after this revival, I chose to accompany Amaterasu- Karin, in reality, in order to steal the brush techniques she learned. With these techniques she could alter reality, causing rain to fall, night to turn into day... _

_Karin was able to speak with me during the game of course, but it was limited. She was unable to speak of where she came from, or who she really was... And in the end, after defeating not only Orochi, but many more demons, it seemed that we had gotten attached to each other despite all of that. We had become good friends, as far as the game allowed._

_So for this reason, she attempted to rebel the game's rules. Near the end, we were meant to separate. She was to enter the 'Ark of Yamato', the lair of the embodiment of evil known as Yami... While I was meant to remain outside, abandoned through the means of another character called Waka, in order to later restore Amaterasu's power- to do this, I was to spread word of her deeds to the people of the world... And yet it would not happen._

_As I said my goodbyes and told her I had seen all of her brush techniques, she trembled. For a brief moment, to both mine and Waka's astonishment, I heard her speak not the wolfish tongue I was familiar with, but human. "I... I won't leave with out you." I was snatched up in her jaws and swallowed, Karin running into the Ark as the door shut behind her. I could not leave the Ark, same with her. And Waka, who was meant to fight on her side, was shut out._

_The battle seemed lost before it began. Her brush techniques were robbed from her by the overpowering darkness Yami held, rendering her no stronger than a normal white wolf. And yet she fought, even as I pounded the insides of her mouth. Even as her gums bled, she fought, slowly stealing her power back. And then, just when it seemed she had gained an upper hand, Yami's darkness set in even more. The people no longer believed in the power of the gods- Only the demons, and the evil that ravaged the lands now._

_As she lay dying, I managed to push myself out of her mouth. Her eyes were barely open, and she looked down on me in misery. However, as Yami's shielded, spherical form came up from behind, taunting the 'Great Amaterasu reborn' this gaze became a face of fury, of determination. Shaking, she stood, and before my eyes, her wounds healed in a blinding light. The light remained, forcing Yami back as she rose up on her hind feet, her form resembling more of a human than the wolf that I had come to know. And again, for the second time, she disrupted the laws of the game and the cables... Her hands wielded the blade she had found upon Orochi's defeat, the Thunder Edge, and she struck forwards in a flash of the same lightening it controlled. _

_Yami's shield was sliced cleanly in half... And as she spoke to him, proclaiming loudly "I am no goddess Amaterasu... I... Am Higurashi Karin, of Nihon! And I WILL return to my home!" And so, Yami himself was also split in two. The glow faded and she was again a wolf, but now, light was filling the room. Waka appeared, offering to give 'Amaterasu' a ride out, but she refused. As I turned to Waka to ask how he'd gotten in however, I found myself in Karin's stomach again. Even with my own glow, the visibilty of the room eventually faded out, replaced by streaks of colours and odd noises as I attempted to worm my way out through her esophagus._

_Back in the world of reality however, my presence was pulled out through the simulation. The machine was unable to reverse multiple conditions and abilities gained through the game- And my presence was one of them, as the choking sensation had refused to leave. I was forced out into the bottom of the cocoon pod, later catching a ride on Karin's bag as she left. I would later re-meet her in __her own house... And the rest... Pretty much goes unsaid._

_***************************************************************_

"..." Conan fell fairly silent once Issun had finished. It was like Shiro's poison... Somehow, the computer was able to physically create the actual situations the children were in and make them permanent. But how did all of this tie in together? His thoughts and the poncle's were interrupted as a loud cheer came from the other end of the room.

"YES!" The door separating the shop from the house opened, and Koji grinned, turning to the others while he tossed the Detective Boys badge into the room. "So... Anyone hungry?"

He chuckled lightly, while Koji headed for the fridge. Turning on the light, Conan had to smirk as the other boy pulled out a large chunk of kielbasa to eat. How typical... He was rather surprised when Issun followed the boy's lead and somehow pulled a 5-times-his-size apple from the fridge as well. "...You too?"

The poncle shrugged, hopping onto the table to start eating. "Eh, I was hungry after the story."

"Right." He took a seat across from Issun and Koji from the table, glancing at the clock. "...10 minutes, ok Hisoka?"

As Koji swallowed his meat, he merely grinned in response. "Heh. I'll be done in five."

***************************************************************

While Conan's 'group' was faring rather well, Heiji's was... Well, you couldn't really say they weren't doing well, at least if you saw it from Kiyoiri and Kira's point of view. While the three sat on the bench outside the Tokyo airport to wait for the taxi, Heiji crossed his arms with annoyance. Yes, he now knew the general direction and district Conan was in thanks to Ran's phone call... But now damn it, he had to take Kiyoiri to her house! He was pretty sure it'd be in Beika... Though he supposed he'd find out when the taxi came, as the girl refused to say anything until then, claiming that she WOULD be the one to tell the cab driver her address.

Of all the... A whispered voice from beside him cut his thoughts off, and Heiji found himself looking at Kira with a confused and possibly a tad disturbed stare. "Kitsusei, have you perhaps noticed anything of interest in the area? Perhaps there are others who know of our predicament that might aid us."

For a short while Heiji stared, but, hearing nothing more, logged the statement Kira made in the back of his mind and focused again on the street, keeping an eye out for the taxi. However, the moment he did this, the blind girl spoke again. "I see... As for your other question, Kitsusei, you surely understand that speaking the names of those long deceased brings unwanted questions- I merely take your name and 'translate' it so to speak."

The invisible conversation continued on for a few minutes more, Heiji staring with wide and confused eyes for quite a while until Kiyoiri's voice tore him from his focus. "Heiji-niisan!!!" The teen looked over, standing abruptly as the girl screamed from her position by the taxi. "Heiji-niisan, we're leaving now!!"

Great... Just great, he told himself as he walked over and got in the taxi. They were an hour behind, going in the wrong direction and-

"'Eh misteh." The taxi driver's voice caught his attention, and he looked up. "You'll be wantin the go to Domino righ'?"

Domino... Wait, that was where. Heiji had to fight the urge to laugh at the sudden turn of events, settling for a grin as the two girls beside him buckled their seat belts. "Yea... That's right... And quickly..."

He had a damn good feeling about things all of a sudden.

***************************************************************

"H...Hng..." He was bound tightly in the darkness, the only light coming through the small hole he'd managed to create by rubbing his horns on the side of the trunk. "Hng... ng..." Shiro was, to say the least, more miserable than he had even been after he realized he had gotten his best friend stuck inside a video game. He was trapped, bound in the fetal position, and his own blood had been used to kill his uncle.

Quiet whimpers escaped him as he reached as far up as the ropes allowed to tug a few silvery violet hairs from his head, the hair having fallen in front of his face a while before. Swiftly, he blew them through the hole in the car, watching as they disappeared into the wind. She... She could follow him this way, couldn't she? Wouldn't she?

He didn't deserve to be followed... But still, in his desperation to live, the boy tugged a few hairs to throw through the hole at a time, silent, black tears rolling down his cheeks as he was carried closer and closer to what could very well be his death.

***************************************************************

In the darkness of the night, a lone figure stood. In her hands, two items. An ink bottle... And a small white brush, the hairs dyed a permanent black. Pale hands shook slightly, before steadying themselves. She could do this... Just like the game, she could do this.

How did one paint on air, she wondered briefly as the brush entered the bottle, pulled out with a smooth coating of black on its bristles. How did you paint on a non-existent surface? She paid it no mind, instead holding the brush in the air and confidently drawing two slightly slanted lines across the horizon, one beneath the other. And, releasing her held breath, she removed the brush from the lines she had miraculously created on thin air.

"Kasugami's brush..." A heavy mist filled the air, and Karin immediately set off in a sprint down the street, heading towards where she'd seen Issun and the others disappear. It had worked... It had worked!!

Time began to catch up. Cars that had become blurs in their slowed speed began to pick up, people became mobile rather than frozen. The girl's pale hands drew the brush again, and two strokes came down, her breath laboured as she ran. She had to... She had to... She had to make it...

Something caught her eye as she turned the corner past the Kame Game shop of Domino. It wasn't the lock on the building... Nor was it the footprints in the bushes around it. It was... The hair. Two... Three strands of it hovered, frozen in the air, and she stopped, staring after them and beyond them at the black, slow moving blur. Frozen she stared, then moved, taking a step closer, her hand outstretched in the veil of mist that surrounded the city by her divine will.

And then, time caught up again. Karin's eyes widened briefly as the black blur became a nothingness, something that wasn't there. She bit her lip, clenching her fist as she shook, standing on the sidewalk as she prepared to draw the brush. Again, if she could just... "...No..."

The bristles scraped against the bottom of the pot, and the small, 10 year old little girl finally collapsed in a heap and cried. No ink. Shiro... No... Shiro...

Three hairs fell down before her, and as though to cry with her, the clouds gathered to wash the world's sadness away with tears of their own...

***************************************************************

AN - WUCHAAAAA I'm back! Quick update is slightly quicker! :D Heheee... It would seem that, thanks to the NaNo mood everyone is in, my chapters have gotten longer. :0 (Not even participating..) Don't expect them to be too long though... I keep my short fanfics with short chapters, and my long ones with.. long ones. You got luckyyyyyy...

Also yes. It's THAT domino and THAT duel monsters. For those who actually guessed this at the very beginning when I cleverly mentioned an 'old man' whose grandson was 'just as interested in gaming' YOU ARE AMAZING.

.... Also, possibly stalking my brain. That's creepy, get out, get out. *shoos* *cough* In any case, enjoy, review, tell me what you think! What you like, don't like... Say hi, I'm getting lonely... :'3 Until next time, Usagi out!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Power, Wisdom, Courage**

It was interesting, to those who met them, the similarities between the famed detectives of the east and west. While both were quite obviously different people, when it came to noticing things, they were almost on par with the other, constantly knocking heads during cases that would oddly enough be credited to either the police or the Osakan. But now, it was only the western detective, the 'Nishi no Meitantei' who was well known. With his death, the famed 'Azuma no Meitantei' almost completely disappeared from the world, remembered only by those who he'd come to know himself.

All similarities aside however, Heiji found himself frowning after getting out of the taxi, the building's location and identity almost completely blowing over him as he stared at the lock on the shop door. While Kiyoiri busied herself with unlocking the door to the house itself, he couldn't help but notice that the lock seemed... Oddly scratched.

"Neh neh, Heiji-niisan! Over here, we go in this way!"

He shook his head, nodding. "Right... I'm comin' I'm comin'..." He pushed the thoughts on the lock back in his mind, walking into the small house with Kiyoiri and Kira instead. The hall light was on, and Kiyoiri was looking in the fridge, frowning.

"Mou.... 'Tou-san ate the meat already?" As she said this, Kira disappeared into another room, Heiji himself simply staring at the slightly greasy plate in the sink.

That was recently put there... The fridge door closing behind him snapped him out of his focus however, and he turned to look at Kiyoiri. "Oi... Are yah alright now? I can just leave yah here right?"

Thankfully for him, the girl responded with a nod. "Yep! ...Though I think you still have to help Kira-chan right...?"

...Damn it! Heiji mentally groaned, turning to where Kira disappeared. "Right... Oiii, Kira-chan..." There was no sign of her.. "....Kiyoiri-chan... Did yah see where she went at all?" The girl pointed over to a door behind the curtains of the kitchen, and he waved a 'thanks' before heading that way.

"_Yare yare... Now what could you be in here for?" _

"_W-Who?-"_

Heiji wasted no time in opening the door and running in. Though what he saw was rather odd... "Kira-chan? And..." It was another kid but...

They were arguing over an ink bottle? A few seconds later the rest of the room caught his eye, the cocoons in particular standing out as he scanned the area. The sheer multitude of cables and computers here, and the target was a small stash of ink in a side table drawer? "....Righ'... Who are you?"

The girl, currently clutching a bottle of ink as though it were her life, coughed, turning away slightly. "Higurashi Karin... Sorry for intruding... But I needed some ink from Kiyoiri-chan..."

While Kira merely smirked in response to this, Heiji had a much more incredulous expression. "At 10 at night?"

Karin's face flushed crimson, and she turned away, before a fourth voice entered the conversation. "Eh, Karin-chan?" The girl turned, blinking as Kiyoiri walked in. "What are you doing here... Eh? Ink? …..Oh yea, 'Tou-san mentioned something about that..."

"Ah... Yea... I really need this um..." As the girl turned to leave through the shop door (Or what likely was), she found her path blocked by the 19 year old from Osaka.

Crossing his arms, he looked down with a stare that, had Conan been on the receiving end, would likely have been reminiscent of the ones that Kogoro used to give him when the man was suspicious. Instead, it had the effect of confusion on Karin. "Something the matter?"

"Yea. Why break in to steal ink instead of waiting for tomorrow?"

Karin froze, cogs turning in her mind as the dust within began jamming a few others there. "Ehh....."

Damn it, how was she supposed to explain that?

* * *

Meanwhile in the middle of Tokyo, FBI agent Jodie Starling was looking at her watch with a frown. "I don't understand..." She scowled, crossing her arms as she looked around. "Where are they?? They're late!"

"There's no sense getting too upset about it Jodie..." Before James Black could even finish that sentence, a car came blazing down the street, stopping in front of the two FBI agents. "Ah, this must be them..."

Jodie smiled a bit, walking over to the car as the window rolled down. "Agent Gibbs?"

"Yea?" The blank stare worked almost as well as the word really...

She held out a hand, nodding her head out of the habit of bowing she developed in the city they were at. "I'm Agent Jodie Starling, this is my partner James Black- We'll be working with you for the next bit."

"I know." Jodie resisted the urge to twitch a brow at Gibb's blunt yet straight-faced remarks, instead letting Black speak.

Walking forwards, the man held a serious gaze to match the current situation. "We understand that you have an idea as to the location of the victims?"

This time, a voice from the passenger's seat of the car answered, Gibbs leaning back uncomfortably as McGee held his laptop over him. "Eh... Sorry boss."

A short glare told him to 'get it over with', and McGee chose to listen to that look. "Right... We have a tracer on the one that was kidnapped; We lost its location in Washington, but the moment we entered the area, the signal was picked up again." He pulled the laptop back, continuing. "They stopped moving about twenty minutes ago; We've sent you the coordinates."

A shout from behind Black told McGee they'd received it. "Ooh~ Good job! This isn't far from here!!"

Black turned back to Gibbs, who was about to roll up his window. "Thank you... We'll follow you there then, and continue from that point."

As the window was rolled up and he and Jodie entered the car, Black had a feeling that Gibbs wasn't going to listen to him once they got there...

At all. Hell, maybe he already wasn't listening... He hoped that wasn't the case though.

Of course, his hopes were often dashed, weren't they?

* * *

It wasn't until they had reached the area of the building that Conan had realized just how 'screwed' they were in this situation. Looking at the large building- A _hospital_ building, he frowned. "Oii... Hisoka... Is this place seriously..."

Koji in the meantime was staring at the building with an odd look on his face; A mix of nostalgia and regret. "Hn... I've come here from a different route before..."

"Eh!?!?" Issun hopped from the top of Conan's head, landing on Koji's shoulder and frowning up at the boy. "What do ya mean, 'come here before'?! Isn't this supposed to be the 'bad guy's lair' kind of place?"

"Hng...." Both boys turned away from Issun, Koji eventually speaking first. "Look, Megane... This is Section A's location... I didn't think we'd end up here so soon, especially since I've been avoiding it for a while but.. Next to the 'head branch', this one is probably the most dangerous one to infiltrate..."

While Issun continued to bounce in confusion ("Oi!! What are you two talking about!?"), Conan frowned, crossing his arms. "Hng... You wouldn't happen to know a good way in would you..?"

"Not one that's unmonitored..."

"Tch..."

A voice from Koji's shoulder took their attention however, and both boys were soon grinning madly when they heard what he said. "Hey... You know, last I checked birds and bugs weren't out of the ordinary..."

Koji looked over at Conan, whose gaze mirrored the other's before the latter trudged off into some bushes near by. "Hehehe... Alright Issun... Listen closely..."

* * *

As Heiji walked through the almost violet mist with wide eyes, Karin trudged forwards with a grim look on her face. Kira, who was behind her and in front of Heiji, had only just convinced Kiyoiri to stay behind in case her father questioned the broken lock, but that did nothing for the fact that the detective of the group needed an explanation.

Well... He got it... "How the hell..."

"VR..." Kira took over the explanation, Karin looking back with a face that clearly said 'how do you know?'. "Karin's ability has been transformed by the machinery of the cocoon machine..."

Heiji looked down at Kira with a twitching brow, before frowning. "That tells me nothin' kid..."

"Mhnhn~ I would expect such from the supposedly 'level' one.." She chuckled, before Karin's voice took both of the others attention.

"The things I'm doing now are the same as within the video game I played for the test of the Cocoon you saw in the shop..." She paused in her walking momentarily, drawing two lines of black in the sky again as the mist around them thickened. "I'd rather not say more than that... I don't think I can..."

The other two stared (Or rather, the one who could see did), and Heiji shrugged. "Alrigh', if you say so..." He continued to look around the mist, eyes wide again. "Still, this is pretty interesting... You can do other things with this ink?"

"....." You could practically see the flames rising from the 10 year old up front.

"Ehehe... Oi oi, I didn't mean anything by it!" Heiji's hands went into a defensive position as Karin raised the brush in a poking motion. "Oii!!!"

A few minutes later, if someone was paying attention, they might have seen an ink-black young adult rush by with and after two young children, disappearing into the mist within seconds after being spotted.

* * *

As the cars sped towards their destination, two very cramped agents sat in the back of the FBI van, unnoticed by the FBI agents inside. Crouched in beneath the seat, Tony struggled to keep completely silent as his ear flopped in front of his face.

Stupid... Long... Ears... ".....fff!" He blew at it, watching as it flew away from his face only to fall back again. "....Fff!" … "Fff! Fff-"

"Tony!" Ziva's hissing voice could be heard just barely by himself, and he turned to where the woman was hiding as she scowled at him. Putting two fingers to her lips, she went back to her own 'comfortable' position, going over how she was to hold a standard gun now.

Frowning, Tony glared at his guilty ear as he attempted to move it out of his face. So itchy... Attempting to bat it away again, he succeeded only in moving it slightly to his right and into his nose. "Hnnn...... Fff!" The ear flapped up, and a few hairs flew into his nose, the ottsel tensing as it began to twitch. "Ah... Ah..."

Ziva turned to him immediately, a wide eyed stare almost threatening immediate death if he were to do what he was about to do.

"Ah..."

There was rustling noises up above them... Ziva quickly began shuffling over, hand held over as she stretched her arm to reach Tony's nose. "Tony...!"

"AH-CHOO!"

Ziva's expression went from one of murder to one of fear as her hand froze in midair, almost tempted to change its course for her own face as people scrambled about in the van. Damnit...

There went getting filled in by the FBI without being discovered...

* * *

"CAW!" A large raven could be seen flying around the 'Ekoda Hospital', and those inside were rather amused by what was seen as 'animal antics'. The raven was flying up, down, back and forth, first floor to even the top floor as it perched atop the building or the trees.

In the basement levels however, were some very confused security guards. As each camera fizzled out, all that they saw was black... But not a single trace of any person, computer signal... Anything! As people , ran back and forth from the room to a familiar office, almost crying as they delivered the message, even more cameras would fizzle out into a grey, white and black fuzz.

-zakuzaku!- With the flash of a blade, and a drop of ink to Conan's surprise the first run, Issun crushed the camera with out getting even a hint of them on film. Black ink covered the screen from seemingly nowhere, and a few seconds later the plastic crushed inwards by the force of his blade and Conan's own talons. That was the first one.

Then the number rose to two. Four. Eight... Each time, they returned to Koji, who quickly located the next one through a combination of scent and memory. Finally, the bird and poncle returned to the boy and collapsed, both gasping for air after the quick run through. "Hah... hah... hah... That's... All of them right...?"

Koji nodded. "That's all of the ones we need down yea..."

That was only a few!? These thoughts were stopped as Koji crouched down and threw some clothes to Conan, who quickly began taking his normal form and putting them on. "If we just got rid of the ones near the chutes we're entering, it'd attract too much attention... As it is, we'll have to go through the ventilation first, and they'll probably catch the blockage within a few minutes of entry." The boy sighed, before uncrossing his arms and looking at the other two with a stern expression on his face.

"You've destroyed the few that will draw their attention away from us- But we need to move fast. Follow me, alright?"

Neither of the other two argued as they followed behind- It would probably be best to let the 'tiger' guide them through this 'jungle'.

* * *

The mist was still thick as they arrived at the hospital, Karin holding a few silvery violet hairs in her hands while Heiji turned to look around the parking lot. "This is the base... A hospital...?"

Karin nodded. "That's where the trail leads..."

Kira as well scanned the parking lot, a small frown on her face. "Hmmm... We are not alone..." The mist began to clear, and within a few seconds the slow-moving forms of a series of vehicles entered the hospital area, Heiji looking towards them with a frown. "Now what would they be doing here, I wonder?"

Suddenly, the mist disappeared completely, time moving blurring to a normal pace as a small number of agents, mostly FBI, exited the van. Heiji noted that one of them was holding two cardboard boxes with holes cut through the sides, while the other, who he recognized as the high school teacher he'd met a few years back, was arguing with a man who just exited his own car. Staring at the scene with a bit of confusion, he felt a tug on his sleeve. "Eh, what?" The detective looked down, frowning at Kira. "What, What is it??"

"Ah, I merely thought you might be interested in this but..." Kira gestured behind them, where the third member of their party was now missing. "As you can see, our celestial envoy seems to have vanished..."

Celestial... Ignoring that, Heiji looked at where Karin disappeared and tensed. "Tch... We turn around for one second an' she leaves!? What does she think she's gonna do anyways!? She's only a kid!!"

Kira merely shrugged, chuckling as Heiji continued to rant to himself about the mess that he'd gotten into, along with the trouble that Karin herself could be in at that moment, before running over to the agents that were still arguing amongst each other. Ahaha... As though that would help matters...

Meanwhile at the entrance for the vents, Issun and the others were having very little luck. "Alright... This has to work..." A tiny brush, invisible to Conan and Koji's eye was drawn across the vent bars, the boys visibly becoming more and more agitated as the poncle did this. This was.. At least the fifth time. For a second, the line would glow, a small niche appearing in the bars for an instant and then...

The line glowed even brighter for a few seconds, before dissipating into a cloud of black dust, Issun bouncing up and down in his anger once more. "DANG IT! I thought I had that one!!!"

The boys sighed, Koji crouching down beside the poncle with an annoyed look on his face. "Look... We don't have time... I thought you had a sword!"

The ponle retaliated with his own glare, hissing his words violently. "And I told you, it's not sharp enough for this kind of metal! I don't know what they put in steel these days, but for some reason, Denkomaru can't cut this!!"

"Maybe 'Denkomaru' isn't as strong as you thought then..."

"Why you, I oughta-"

-SHING!-

The two boys froze in the middle of their argument, Conan moving his gaze from his position behind Issun to look in the same direction the other two were. Away from the vents. As all three stared, speechless, a small bit of laughter slowly became audible to them, before being covered by the sound of small steel bars falling to the ground.

"Hnhnhnhn! Really Issun... You're still with me aren't you? You said you wouldn't leave until you learned all of my techniques..."

Issun stared, as did the other two as Karin put the cap back on her ink bottle and grinned, red eyes flashing from the view of the poncle. "Now then," she said, pulling a small rosary necklace around her neck with a smile. "What was it you said earlier, about needing help?"

* * *

AN: Oh look, I UPDATED. 83 We're nearing the end folks... And be glad for it... You know why?

This was my 'least' inspired of fanfics... It's the one I was least inspired to write, as my plotline was 'bleh'. However, the fanfic coming next (At least, after the short story collection that will only occasionally be updated between said fanfic in chronological terms), is something I've been DYING to write, especially after seeing a trailer for an upcoming movie. 33

Only three chapters left guys... Two if the epilogue is merged with one... 3

(Also.. Yea. This one's really short compared to the last. But... Really, shouldn't expect them to be that length for this fic. |D)


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Keep Your Friends Close...**

While things seemed to be tangling into a heap overseas, particularly when Director Vance had to explain just _what_ the two 'ottsels' discovered in the FBI van were...

Stated as being two 'highly intelligent information gathering work animals that were a bit too eager for their job', a statement that was taken if only for the fact that the ottsels themselves were more unbelievable than the excuse...

Well, Ran was not pleased, to say the least. Hanging up the phone with a scowl, she almost punched a hole in the wall before Eisuke stood in her way, barely avoiding getting hit himself. "M-M-Mouri-san, I'm sure that it's not his fault... I mean, from what I've seen, the two girls are quite convincing... Eeh..."

This did not help the young 'first year' with matters, and Ran turned to Eisuke with a stern glare. "Eisuke-kun," she said, crossing her arms, "I think that I have a right to know where the ones I was trusted with are."

"But R- Mouri-san..." Eisuke rubbed his head, sighing. "It was Gibbs and the others who were entrusted with their care, not you... You don't need to feel so responsible, and.. I'm sure things will be fine! Gibbs would never let a child die on his watch!"

Ran was not convinced. Taking a seat, she continued to glare, before the gaze softened, and her body shook. Eisuke stood and walked over, a shaking hand touching her shoulder. "Ran-san..?"

"I just... I almost lost him once... And I already lost someone else close to me... I can't... I just met these kids, and now they're just gone... I know that Kiyoiri-chan, and Kira-chan are in good hands with Heiji-kun but... I.. I..." She wiped her eyes, still shaking as Eisuke held a hand on her shoulder. "If they die... I will have done nothing..."

He had nothing to say to that.

What could you say?

* * *

For a while, Jodie had been rethinking her 'inherited' dislike for NCIS. Sure they were a bit... Rough, at least Gibbs was from what she could tell from the first meeting. But the other one, McGee, seemed nice enough. They hadn't done anything wrong in her eyes, at least nothing worthy of hatred...

"_AAAH-CHOO!"_

"Nani!?" The brakes were slammed at the edge of the parking lot to the hospital, and all at once the agents in the van scrambled to the source of the noise, eventually pulling out two squirming... Things. However, she recognized them all the same. "O-Ottsels!?" Eyes wide as they put the two ottsels in a cardboard box, she chose to focus more on parking than on the ottsels for a moment, before having Black speak to the Director through MTAC about things.

"Over eager work animals that closely resemble those from a video game?" Even just repeating it sounded ridiculous...

But... She could still hold firm... They couldn't be that bad...

"Oii!!!" The group turned abruptly, an oddly familiar Osakan running up to them with a small girl tagging along behind.

"Ohhh? 'Private Eye'-san?" Jodie smiled, turning to him. "Now what could you be doing here?"

Heiji merely stared. "O-Oi... I knew you weren't a normal teacher but..."

The woman winked, putting a finger to her lips. "Shhh... Not now hm? I'm a bit busy as you can see..."

From behind her, Gibbs walked up, along with McGee. "Hattori?" Gibbs frowned slightly, before spotting Kira and chuckling. "You fell for them..."

"H-Hey, don't tell me you knew about those two!" Before the teen could say anything more, he clutched his shin and gasped. "Fffff!!!"

Kira in the meantime, smiled. "It would be wise not to insult people who are right beside you, Heiji-niisan..."

Heiji looked down at the girl, gritting his teeth before shrugging off the pain and looking back at the agents. "Gibbs-san... Jodie-san..." He looked back at the hospital, frowning. "This wouldn't happen to be..."

The silent stares told him all he needed to know, as well as telling them the same thing. He knew. And now they knew that. Heiji sighed, rubbing his head with one hand as he slowly brought that hand down again. "Great... And something tells me you're not gonna let me help, which is probably for the better..."

More silence. However, Jodie spoke as she waved the FBI agents behind her onwards. "There is one thing... If you could go inside and distract them, that would probably be helpful rather than harmful, [ok]?"

He nodded- No use attempting to get involved with this, much as he would want to under normal circumstances; but the FBI was an entirely separate-

Wait.... As Jodie turned to leave, he called after them. "C-Chotto! Jodie-san, Conan-kun is..."

Shit... They were gone... He looked down, sighing before he frowned. "Oi oi... …..Kira-chan?" The teen whipped his head around, looking for a small sign of the girl. "Kira-chan!?! Oi!"

"Over here, Tantei-oniisan..." Heiji turned to the hospital, mentally sighing in relief. Hospital. Distraction. Right.

This would be fun.

* * *

Standing by the entrance around the back of the Hospital, the one leading down, Jodie pulled out her radio and looked over at Gibbs. "Right... I'm going to call for the others, and let them know where we are- Just wait a few seconds, alright?"

Gibbs seemed to give a look that said 'if you must', while Jodie began radioing in. The moment she looked back to the NCIS crew however, she blinked with surprise. "Hey!! What are you doing??"

The two looked back at Jodie, McGee looking slightly confused and nervous, while Gibbs simply had the usual 'stare'. "If we wait to long, what do you think will happen to the kids that went after them?"

Jodie blinked, before frowning. The kids... Sudden realization hit as her eyes widened even more with shock. The tracer file... McGee had sent her the map showing the tracer's progress, but although they claimed to have lost it overseas, there was still a constant signal in that area.

And if Gibbs knew the 'Private Eye'... Then how low could the chances of him knowing the 'Cool Kid' as well be?

…Screw this. Jodie stood up and ran after the two, radioing on the fly. There were kids to find.

* * *

The definition of a 'ventilation shaft' was the following, at least the denotation of it: A shaft in a building that serves as an air passage for ventilation. The definition of ventilation here in the meantime, can be taken as this: The replacement of stale or noxious air with fresh air. Which meant, as one would assume, that at that moment, guided by nothing but the light of the small poncle ahead, or in the case of the two with much longer hair, their eyes, that Koji, Karin, Conan, and Issun were now crawling in.

This was not the case. The tunnels they were crawling through scarcely fit their childish bodies, Issun being the only one moving about freely. However, through the cramped and heated tunnel that was the ventilation shaft, Conan still found time to question Koji, who was crawling behind him. "Hisoka..." He paused briefly as he scraped his knuckles across the screws in the metal shaft again, hissing slightly, but continuing as quickly as the wound healed. "You said you knew this place... But also the agent who took Shiro-kun, right?"

The boy behind him nodded, careful not to let Issun or Karin, behind him, hear what he said. "Ah. That's right." He moved forwards, occasionally bumping into the boy in front of him and scowling, before moving on. "Originally, when I met 'Maideira'.... Rather, 'Vivian Blackadder', it was during a meeting here in Section A, which I was part of before the transfer... She was extremely 'innocent' at a glance, and didn't seem well suited for the job... But later, when I met her as 'Koji' in Section F..."

The voices seemed to carry to the ears of the wind as he spoke the last words, the breeze eventually leading to a room filled with violet coloured tubes and canisters, at the center of which sat a shaking, pale young boy. "...Let's just say that if we don't hurry, you'll find out just how much of a ruse she held, Megane."

With pale faces and a steel resolve, they continued, oblivious to the actions going on above and below them.

* * *

It was a rather boring night in the hospital, that was for sure. Sitting behind the desk at reception, the woman blew another bubble in her gum as she turned a page of her magazine, occasionally looking at the empty lobby. A few minutes ago, a small girl had wandered inside and run off down the hall... Shortly there after a young man, presumably a brother or some other relative (Not that he looked it), ran into the lobby, turned around to scan the room frantically, and then disappeared down the same hall.

And aside from that... Nothing.

"SOMEBODY! WE NEED A DOCTOR, NOW!" The woman jumped from her chair, both herself and a few other 'on-call' nurses and doctors running down the hall to see the dark skinned young man holding the body of the same young girl that came in.

One of them, the first to the scene, quickly started talking to the teen while another called for anyone not busy to get over to the area immediately. But at the same time...

-- Sprinklers began gushing water from above, and numerous people were suddenly in a panic, nurses attempting to lead patients to fire exits, while the doctors on 'scene' were still trying to solve the problem at hand. In the end, one settled for taking the girl from Heiji's arms, while the other began questioning him as they moved, a few other nurses returning with a stretcher and equipment for the girl.

"Sir, I need you to answer a few questions, is that alright?" The doctor seemed rather nervous, doing this amongst what was supposedly 'not' a fire drill, but for all that, Heiji had to admit that he was doing quite well considering the situations he and Kira had put together. It wasn't easy getting the alarm to delay but...

"Of course." But damn it, he had to play the part of 'cousin' now, or else it'd fall to shit! "Go on but..-"

"Sir, I need you to tell me what happened, understand?" Heiji nodded, keeping his eyes on Kira in the stretcher (She played an oddly good unconscious victim... So far she hadn't responded to the ear pinch, the yells, the noise...), as well as the slowly emptying building. "Alright. I need you to tell me what happened, as best you can alright?"

So far so good, most of the hospital was evacuating into the parking lot as they waited for fire trucks. "My cousin, Kin," he said, making things up on the go, "I was chasin' after her since she'd run off, but as she turned a corner, she slipped and fell... She stopped movin', and I... Well..." Ok. Let's face it. He was not that good an actor. The doctor seemed to buy it however, and as he made to ask the next question, Heiji saw the doctors block the hospital entrance and suppressed a grin.

He'd done his part, he thought as he attempted to still answer the questions smoothly through the lie. Now lets hope that Kudo... No... 'Edogawa' now, did his part.

-BOOM!-

Heiji's imaginary grin no longer needed to apply however, when a large explosion at the top of the building occurred, his face taking the typical 'o' shape of surprise. What... The hell?

* * *

In the depths of the hospital, Shiro wept black tears from his chair, shuddering as he grew weaker with each tube that took blood from his body. Footsteps reached the boy's ears. However, as he attempted to look up, a sharp pain from one of the tubes in the back of his neck stopped him, his head flopping forward, uselessly.

Until the woman in front of him raised his gagged face upwards to look at hers, his mind screaming with pain as the metal tube behind him dug into his skin. Hatred burned in his eyes, tears falling like acid on his clothes as the woman grinned maliciously. "Hm hm hm.... Your blood my boy... Is quite useful..." She threw his head upwards, the neck snapping with a crack before he flopped forwards again, eyes wide with fear and pain. "Ahahaha!" Walking around him, she grabbed the back of his chair, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"Are you scared, little boy...?" The boy screwed his eyes shut, and the woman grinned madly, walking back around to face him. "Well, you should be... You won't die of course... We'd loose such a precious weapon... But..." The grin grew beyond it's already near impossible limit, twisting her seemingly beautiful face into one of a child's nightmare. "Until the point that we decide you can, you better get used to this treatment..."

-_- _The woman, Madeira, jumped up, her grin fading as the fire alarm rang. Frowning, her eyes gained a mad glint to them as she looked at the boy and then at the door. "Tch! Those fools... We're in a concrete building!" Turning back to Shiro, she grinned again, pulling a bit of curly hair back from her face as she left. "I'll be back... 'Boyo'..."

Within a few minutes, she was gone, the room left silent save for the slight rattle of cables attached to Shiro. Though his weeping was muted by the gag in his mouth, even the noise his tears made against the ground were audible to those above, the eyes inside the ventilation (The plan of going through the laundry chute had quickly been abandoned when it was realized that said chute was smaller than the shaft they were in) staring down.

Suddenly with a crash, the grate covering the vent in front of Shiro collapsed, a boy falling through, along with a 'bug', followed by another boy. All three of which Shiro recognized. Staring, he watched as the first one, baggy sleeveless clothes covered in dust with the glasses inside a pants pocket for protection, walked forwards to pull his gag off, the other boy, tight clothes equally as filthy, removing the cables with a jolt of pain at each one. "Ach!" Finally able to speak, his voice was barely muffled by his friend's hand as the last few cables were torn out, before Conan removed the hand.

"Shiro-kun," the boy whispered, as Koji looked around the room for any other problems. "Are you alright?" Almost immediately thereafter he added, "Aside from the obvious?"

The boy nodded, groaning as he stood. Koji, Issun sitting on his shoulder, walked over, looking around almost nervously before turning back to Shiro. "We need to leave. Now. Karin-chan's going to distract them but-"

-_BOOM!-_ The boys looked upwards, trembling slightly as the shock wave shook even the dust down below. Issun looked up, eyes wide as he hopped from Koji's shoulder to the floor. "...That was Karin-chan..." He swallowed, blinking nervously as he made his decision. "Right... Looks like I'll have to help you in a bigger way." The others looked down almost quizzically, though Koji seemed to slowly gain a look of realization.

Holding his hands out before anyone could say a thing, a large mallet appeared before Issun, large enough for each of the boys to hold in their hand. "Reverse..."

Conan blinked- '_Reverse..._' His dreams on the train... He felt himself thinking back to them briefly, about the cocoon experience in the past, and on the odd nightmarish scene that had come as what he thought was a result of that. Karin and Shiro... They had shown up in it, the two children from the festival. A premonition....? Or a warning...

A bright light snapped Conan from these thoughts, and the boys, save for Shiro, shielded their eyes as what appeared to be a swinging mallet slowly created a 'shadow' in front of them. Shutting his eyes, Conan grimaced, waiting for the light to die down as he heard the two beside him gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw why.

Standing before them, insect helmet super sized and hanging off his back, Issun, garbed in his kimono and cape, pants just barely reaching his ankles and sandals, crossed his arms with a frown. He looked scarcely over 12, and yet... To think they had thought him an adult... The boys were snapped out of this by his next words however, as the poncle, now human sized, drew his katana and pointed it at the door. "Let's go! We don't have much time!"

The others nodded, Koji waving an arm towards the doorway opposite the one Madeira left through. "Come on- The closest exit is this way!" Footsteps pounded without question through the halls, doors slamming open or merely being cut down by Issun's blade as they ran, the sword more than enough for the hollow frames. Koji's mind raced as hallways and door numbers, stair locations and windows ran through his head, the boy leading them up and down, left and right.

"Hisoka!" Conan cried out as they ran, the halls oddly empty for them. "I thought you said this was the closest exit!"

"It'll be the closest one that's _empty_!" The others almost stopped at those words, Conan looking at Koji incredulously as they ran.

"Closest empty one!? How the hell do you know Hisoka??"

The boy turned, and they came to a small room, the bottom half cutting to a balcony. Staring for a moment, Conan suddenly knew. If Koji had worked here before... And had told Karin just where to bomb... Briefly he looked up. The lights had been completely shot in all the areas they went through. And if Koji's memory was as good with buildings as it was geography.

Koji simply stared back with half-lidded eyes, before speaking. "Let's just say, I just know, Megane." Turning back to look over the balcony, beneath which sat a room with an 'Exit' light at the end, the boys walked over before a clicking noise stopped them.

Healing was instantaneous... But not all the time... It took time to gain the full effects of healing, Conan thought to himself as they turned, seemingly in slow motion towards the sound of a gun's safety being pulled off. If he was shot too many times... He would not recover easily.

"Don't even think of moving, brats..." The woman held the gun steadily, her grin eerily reminding Koji of a certain expression of his own, his face paling considerably when she continued. "Especially you, _Gin_."

* * *

AN: Ohohoho~ Did I say 'least inspired'? I think I might have jumped the gun there... :'D *cough* Suddenly, I am on fire! Two chapters! Whoo!

...Don't expect a third right now. It's late. I NEED SLEEEEEEEEP. I shouldn't be catering to you people (Even though I love it)~~~ *cough* Innnnn any case. Does this chapter tell you where the title 'Hidden Memories' come from I wonder? :'D Enjoy this guys! I think that after this one, the next two (End, and epilogue) will be equally if not more than as long as this. 3

I LOVE YOU ALL. 3


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: And Your Enemies Closer, Baka**

* * *

They stood frozen, resembling wax figures at the edge of the balcony. One boy who appeared to be from feudal era Japan, his arms loosely held in front of him, half defending, half surrendering. Another, slightly shorter, held his hands raised above his silver haired head, mimicking the shorter, spectacled boy beside him. The last, in the meantime, whose hair was now more the dyed blond colour it had been 'originally', cowered behind the tallest of the group in fear.

And in front of them? A smirking 'gaijin' with a gun. "Isn't this a _lovely_ situation we've found our selves in..." She seemed tempted to laugh, her smirk widening as she paced towards the group, three out of the for sending ice cold glares at her, which seemed to have little affect on the woman. "One who I'm supposed to kill thanks to the infiltration of the section... One supposedly dead young man who also needs to die... One former agent who _also_ needs to be killed, and..." She looked at Issun, before grinning maliciously at him. "Well, we can't have any witnesses to the fact, now can we? Though I suppose a hostage would be good as well..."

Said boy practically snarled at the woman, gritting his teeth. "The hell I'll help a bitch like you-"

"Issun! Not now!!" The human sized poncle was pulled back quickly by Conan before he could move, both boys quickly returning to their 'surrendering' poses. ".....It's not like she won't be killed either way right...?" Mentally, Conan panicked; how did she know who they were? DNA should have been sabatog- In Japan... They hadn't done anything to the records outside the country! If anyone were to check in the US, or anywhere else...

He chose not to think of that as the woman in front of them spoke again. "Really, how cruel.." Madeira cocked her head, grin still fixed. "And here I thought I would kill you both last... To think I'd be thanked so rudely..." Conan frowned deeply as the woman came closer to his end of the row than the others. "Granted, you won't be first either..." Suddenly, the gun was pointed at Shiro and Shiro only, the other three paling as the woman walked over to Conan. "Hm hm hm hm... After all, it's not everyday we see a survivor from _that_ poison..." He shuddered as she took his chin in one hand, snapping it up before turning to Koji. "Hnn.... Though you appear to be in the same situation... Decisions decisions..."

Gun still fixed on Shiro, she walked back from the boys before turning to them once more, eyebrows furrowed in a mock frown as she smiled. "Who do I keep I wonder..." As the woman stared down at them, the three who didn't have a gun pointed directly to them had to wonder if she had a domination complex... If she was going to kill them, could she just do it now...?

All at once however, the gun moved from Shiro to Koji, Madeira's grin widening madly. "Quite frankly, even if the other will die soon, I'd rather see the one who used to sit above me die first! Enjoy hell, Gin!" The gun fired, and all at once things seemed to slow down.

Screams could be heard from the hallway, cries of 'FBI' heard along with multiple shots that ran through Madeira's body, the grin on her face fading to a look of shock in Issun and Shiro's eyes. While her body fell however, Koji's also went backwards, though not from the force of a bullet wound. Glass shattered in the balcony styled window, and to Koji's shock, rather than a bullet going through only his body and the glass...

'Baka megane!! Did he forget this won't kill me!?!' Flipping himself over in the split second he had, the boy grabbed the jagged, glass covered edge of the floor, grunting as Conan fell over him as well. A split second more, and Conan's arm was in his other hand, the one on the floor slipping slightly as he held tight. "Tch... Me... Ga... Ne..." They dangled there, the chaos above heightening in Koji's ears to a dull roar as he winced.

Conan merely looked up, face pale with shock and blood loss- The bullet... That was one of the poison bullets, wasn't it? He looked up for a bit, his chest still bleeding through the hand that held tight to the wound, which was healing painfully slow. Koji looked down with a frown. The poison... They didn't really know what effect that poison had, now did they... "Megane..." He struggled to adjust his grip, looking up as Shiro and Issun were taken away by the two of the agents that had shown up, the ones coming towards him being FBI agent Jodie Starling (Who he recognized with grim pleasure) and... Gibbs.

In the brief moment he had, he looked down at the boy that he still held firmly in his left arm's grip, frowning. "Megane... Why the hell did you do that..."

Koji however, did not get an answer. And as Gibbs and Jodie both pulled them off the edge, he, too, found himself joining Conan in a shock and exhaustion induced sleep.

* * *

_A memory..._

_He was a trainee, with no name, no identity. He sat at the edge of the bed, running rules in his head as he cleaned his gun carefully, almost roboticly. He thought of rules for the kill, rules for betrayal, rules for the safety of himself... And rules for those with partners._

_It mattered not who it was; If a partner fell, injured, it was their duty to kill them off should the situation be grim enough to call for one or the other's life. If it was your life or his, let his life go. After all, should he not be thinking the same thing, he holds no respect for his own life, therefore, the safety and success of the mission. Lack of faith in ones self, leads to lack of faith in ones practice, leading to a failed job._

_There was no room for failure. It was all or nothing. Each for their own. And yet..._

…

.............

_...A memory..._

_He clutched the wound on his arm, the one he had given himself to stay awake from the sleeping poison that the unseen man who saved that woman shot into his shoulder. He stumbled; the poison, though resisted, was even overpowering the pain from the gunshot wound, and he was threateningly close to unconsciousness._

_He saw his partner come towards him, asking him about what happened. He saw the gun in his hand... And waited for the shot to fire, or at least to be left behind. That was, after all, the fate of one who failed; and even those of lower rank had the right to do so. There was no doubt, what so ever after all, that even immediately after he had killed another failure, he himself had failed just now._

_Instead, as he collapsed into unconsciousness, he felt someone's arms grab him, pulling him into the car and to the Section's hospital. A few weeks later, his arm was almost fully healed... He was 'forgiven'... And back on duty, with a new assignment._

_His partner had saved him... But why?_

_Why?_

"Why...."

Bright, blinding florescent lights shone down from the ceilings, the entire room bathed in nothing but white. Beneath them, the boy blearily opened his eyes, stretching himself up to a sitting position on the bed. "Ung...." Hands reached for his head automatically as he groaned, biting his lip as he muttered to himself. "Ow..."

"Good morning to you too, Hisoka." Koji jerked his head up, looking beside him as his vision refocused. Slowly, the white, blinding light toned down, and he could see the hospital bed beside him, along with its occupant.

Shaking his head again, he frowned. "Megane... Ung... How long have I been out..?"

"Three hours- But really, if you had fallen, you likely wouldn't be waking up at all. Though it's a wonder you're waking up right now really..." The boys turned to a voice below and beside them, as some sort of furry 'rodent' crawled up on the bed. Behind the woman (They assumed it was female, as there were obvious lumps in that tank top), another clambered up, looking a little less serious than his partner.

"Of course... You didn't so really, it doesn't matter any more right?" The second one was swatted over the head playfully, and he ducked with a grin.

Meanwhile, the boys were still staring, the one in glasses finally speaking. "Who... You two... Are you both from NCIS..?" The two ottsels (As Koji recognized them as) turned, Conan feeling a few waves of confusion from both of them before the slightly taller of the pair spoke.

"You are correct. It's nice to see you again, Conan... How long ago did you wake up?"

Before Conan could answer, Koji stared at the ottsels in shock. "David-san... And DiNozzo-san.."

There was an awkward silence as blanks were being filled in the boys mind, Ziva and Tony looking at each other and then the boys. The darts... The stuff in them... The whole VR mess... Finally Conan was first to speak. "I woke up about an hour before Hisoka did... But.. ah... What are you both doing here, if you're..."

Tony had an odd happy grimace on his face, and Conan instantly read the look as 'holding something important back that I should probably say, in fact, I think I'll do it now before the one beside me swats be on the back of the head, since my actual boss would give me brain damage if he tried himself.' "Ah... Yea. About that..."

* * *

While a plane landed in Tokyo only a few hours later, allowing an increasingly worried Mouri Ran to just about tackle Conan to the ground (To which he quickly said 'I'm still injured,' contrary to what his perfectly fine appearance said and was), another plane landed in D.C. Standing by a car as he waited for those on the plane to get off, Eisuke sighed, stuffing a folded piece of paper in his pocket for what was probably the fourth time that day.

It had taken a lot, honestly, to get Abby to hold off on the DNA testing from the scene of Ziva and Tony's apparent 'murder'. And he meant a LOT. He was likely going to be broke for the next month with all the caf-pows and candy he owed the woman now. In fact-

"Ah, Boss!!" Eisuke ran over to help McGee with the things from the plane, while Gibbs walked past with a smile on his face. Noticing this, the teen looked over at his 'as of now' co-worker with worry. "Ah... Why is he smiling...?"

McGee bit his lips as though he were biting a sour lemon, before he finally turned to Eisuke and gave him a curt nod and answer. "It's... Probably best not to ask for now." The pair walked back to the car, loading the trunk before McGee spoke again. "So... I heard you spent a lot of time in the waiting room with a 'Miss Mouri'..." He had a look that said 'ohoho'... While still keeping the slight smile and awkward conversation starting tone.

Eisuke, fumbling with the bags briefly, merely laughed nervously. "Ah... W-Where did you hear that McGee...?"

This conversation ended up lasting until Gibbs finally shut them up with a new case... And that was for... Quite a while. Which made for multiple loop-hole escapes that McGee could now add to his writing.

* * *

Meanwhile, Abby 'gleed', verb or not. Sitting on the stool in her forensics lab, she stared down all of her trusted, highly trained comrades in arms. "We have... One hour... It'll be hard... But I know, that together, we can make it! This DNA will be tested before he even gets here and-"

"Talking to machines, Abbs?"

The woman turned, first bearing an expression of surprise, then looking at Gibbs with a more positive form of it. "Gibbs!!!" She ran forward, wrapping her arms around the slightly surprised man's neck, his own arms held out to prevent the caf-pow from spilling. "Gibbsgibbsgibbsgibbsgibbs," she released her boss, practically jumping in place as she gratefully took the caf-pow to drink. "You're back~" She put the caf-pow on the desk, before giving her usual smile to the man. "Ah! But... Are you here to say hi, or just give me work!" Abby turned to give a mock glare, pointing almost accusingly at Gibbs, who returned the point with his usual 'not at all' stare.

"Sorry... But there's evidence from the VR case for you." He leaned over, whispering something in her ear as he handed her something else. "But I'm sure you can make it."

As Gibbs left, Abby held the 'instant caf-pow' in her hands with wide, happy eyes, before one of the machines beeped and tore her out of her glee. "Ah-! The DNA!"

What she saw was rather interesting.

"No... Way...." This... Was...

-SCHEWWWN-

"No.. No no no no no no!!!!"

From upstairs, Abby's loud scream of 'AAAAAAUUUUH!!' could be heard, McGee wincing from his laptop as he folded it over. Leaning over from his new position in McGee's old spot (McGee having taken Tony's desk), Eisuke gulped and whispered hurriedly. "H-Hey... W-What will she do, when she finds out we were told by the director to..." He looked around nervously, before continuing, "...To hack into the database... And alter those records?"

McGee, who as even more pale than Eisuke, merely looked over at the elevator and back at his new coworker. "It's... Probably best not to think of that right now."

"R-Right... ACK!" -TSCH!-

Eisuke's thoughts were quickly brought from 'terror of Abby looming' to his current position on the floor, under the wheel-y chair he had been leaning on. Just his luck...

* * *

As Conan and Koji were released from the hospital, they were, of course, bombarded with questions from their 'guardians' and friends. The media, thankfully, was held off, as they themselves were 'not involved', however... After refusing 'Witness Protection', it was still rather difficult.

Even after the tight embrace (followed by harsh scolding) from Ran however, things were not done for the day it seemed. As Conan returned to his room at Kogoro's small home, collapsing on the bed, the beeping from his cell phone made the boy groan. "Unnnnnggg..." He pulled it out; it wasn't as though any one else really knew what happened out in the states. ". . ." Or... So he thought.

CALLER ID: HATTORI HEIJI

"Auuughh... God... Damn it..." Flipping the phone opened, he grudgingly answered, knowing he would probably regret this in the end. "Moshi moshi..."

"Oi, Kudo!"

Conan resisted the urge to groan again, instead face-vaulting into his pillow. "It's Edogawa now, Hattori.... And how do you get away with saying a dead-man's name on the phone?"

On the other end, there was a stuttering pause. "Ah- Well.... There are other living kudou's around right, Ku- …. Edogawa?"

Oh. Close save. Conan sighed, before speaking again. "Ok... And you called right after all that because...?"

"Because you keep runnin' into stupid things, that's what! Seriously, I know we've done some crazy stuff K- Edogawa, but tonight-"

"_Heiji! Who are you talking too??_"

Conan blinked as Kazuha's voice cut over the phone. He should probably hang up if they start really talking but.... He stared at the phone from the corner of his eye. This could prove entertaining.

"E-E-Ehh... K-Kazuha! I'm just talking to a friend!!"

"_You disappear for the entire month after skipping out on our date, and then don't bother to tell me you've come back!? Just how important is this friend!?"_

"Ahou! Didn't you see the news!? He was in the hospital fire!"

"_It's made of concrete, ahou!"_

Conan laughed on the other end. "Should have said something else Hattori..."

"S-Shut up, ahou!"

"_Ahou!? What are you calling me ahou for this time?? HEIJI!!_" -CLICK-

-BEEEEEEEEP-

'Your call has been canceled. Please hang up, and try your call again. Your call has been-'

Still laughing, Conan hung up the phone and rolled over on the bed, his laughter eventually quieting before he frowned. Shoot... How the hell was he supposed to sleep now, he was all hyped up on the images of what Heiji was probably going through! "Ffffff...."

Eh... He had time to find out he supposed. After all, he told himself as he rolled over in his bed, it wasn't as though anything would happen anytime soon... Not until school began at least, and really, who cared about skipping grade school? The point was, as the boy rolled over to take a well needed sleep, was that things were settled for now...

And that in the future, perhaps it would never happen again.

* * *

AN : BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE. Epilogue will be posted in a few minutes... And then... We're done! And we're off to the next one! ...To those waiting for Feet in Sand or Oceans of Red, please forgive me.... TT_TT But unfortunately, while my Conan crossover brain has been raring to go, my Sonic and Avatar brains... Have not. TT__TT

In any case, leave a review, tell me what you think! Any questions on the story, let me know! I'll answer anything that seems unanswered in this story, so long as it's not something that will be revealed (And is meant to be revealed) in a later fan fic. ;)


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Ending Credits**

* * *

Things slowed down considerably as school came closer to reality. Thanks to the insanity of what happened over the week, there was only two days left until the year for the grade 3,4 and university level students continued now. Loose ends were tied up... Ziva and Tony were officially listed as 'dead', while they continued looking into the Black Organization from, ironically enough, Kuroi Shiro's home. It seemed that 'ottsels' in a Jak fan's house wasn't as unbelievable even with the 'amazingly life like' effects. On the bright side, seeing how Tokyo appeared to be the 'main base' of operation for the Org, gathering intel was easy. Even if they had to work with the FBI, to Tony's disappointment.

Issun, in the meantime, barely escaped the hospital and fingerprinting and DNA checking, by asking to go to the washroom and shrinking himself back down. A beetle would later hitch a ride back to the safety of Karin's sweater pocket, Karin herself in the hospital for minor burns on her arms. When questioned, she stated that they were caused by the fire... But in reality, she simply found out that using explosives near electronics was a bad idea.

Returning to his home after a short trip to Kyoto, Shindou found that not only was the meat he had saved for Kiyoiri's return to school dinner gone, but the lock on his store needed to be replaced. His daughter assured him that nothing was wrong however, and, to his confusion, instead chose to ask if he had fixed the VR system yet; she wanted to try out a few games that a friend recommended.

Ran returned to University in the very same city that Shindou returned from shortly after the man came back. But not before telling him of what his daughter had done over the week, which resulted in the answer to Kiyoiri's question being 'yes, but you're grounded for the next month'. Kiyoiri would later be allowed to play in the VR system a mere week later.

Kira, upon her return, resumed her 'regular activities' no questions asked, and continued to scare the bejeezus out of everyone around her. Ahhh, she told herself, it was good to be back, such a peaceful atmosphere... Meanwhile, everyone else was about as stiff as a piece of hardwood floor was. And as wet as one left outside would be thanks to the nervous sweat they broke out into.

Things had certainly settled down, Koji thought to himself as he walked back to the Kudou house that he had been living in for the past few months. It was weird, being a 'kid' again and living alone. Almost haunting in fact. But really, it was probably for the best. Conan was busy dealing with 'surviving' Kogoro's attempts to be a good guardian and cook food ('Oji-san!! Stick to instant ramen for a while, please!?!'), while checking in with the ottsels and some other person... While Kiyoiri had her friends to talk to again.

And besides, he thought, opening the door to the house and turning to close it behind him. It wasn't as though having no one to watch him play video games inside was-

"...." A footstep and a foreign scent from behind got him to turn around immediately, his eyes widening with shock as the 'new house mate' Conan had mentioned would arrive soon stood before him.

"N-No way...." What day was it today? The 4th of September now? Yea, that was it. Even if the house mate was a week early however... that wasn't what caught him off guard.

The toque.

The burns.

More importantly his _eyes_ which seemed to glare daggers at him without actually narrowing. At all.

If he could remember his name, he would feel a lot better. But for now, all he could say was, "So... That's what he meant...

"When he said that the CIA was on it as well..."

The school days were suddenly looking more pleasant. However, Koji wasn't completely sure he would live that long, particularly when the man's eyes were naturally drawn towards the scar on his left cheek.

Maybe... If he was lucky... Just maybe...

The ending credits of this scene of his life would cover up the shame of this particular mission failure as well... Or at least, they would last long enough for him to reach the glasses wearing baka to pull up some dirt on _him_ as well.

* * *

AN: Aaaaaand that's a wrap! Thanks for holding out all of you (Especially you who added this to your alert... The day I completed it! |||D Sorry about that!!!), the fact that you even read this makes me happy! *loves you all for that*

Short epilogue is short... And those who can guess who Conan just stuck with Koji before the next 'addition' to this line comes out gets a cookie. The next line diverges! But not really. I will be posting a series of short stories depicting the events from this point (Second semester start of Grade 3) to the start of Fourth Grade (April of the next year) after this, but, around the same time, a chapter fic called 'The White Castle' will also come out, which takes place from the start of the Fourth Grade year. Have fun guys, and enjoy! And don't worry; The short stories will be posted in such a way that you aren't all completely lost whenever the White Castle gets an update/comes out. ;)


End file.
